Pitiful Meaning
/ˈpɪt.ɪ.fl̩/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjSo appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity.
adjEliciting contempt.
Sentence Examples
The pitiful sight moved us to tears.
The little girl, deeply moved by the old man's pitiful story, burst into tears.
The pitiful tale fetched tears from the girl.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The living conditions of the orphans were truly ____, with little food or warm clothes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The abandoned puppy let out a ____ whimper that made everyone in the shelter want to adopt it.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English pityful, piteful, piteeful. By surface analysis, pit(i) + -ful.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The vvhilſt their ovvne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittifull."
— c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], signature D3, verso:
"Straightway, he now goes on to make a full confession; whereupon the mariners became more and more appalled, but still are pitiful."
— 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
"‘She followed ’em, cryin’ pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall[.]’"
— 1906, Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill, London: Penguin Books, published 1994, page 194:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The living conditions of the orphans were truly ____, with little food or warm clothes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The abandoned puppy let out a ____ whimper that made everyone in the shelter want to adopt it.