pitiful

CEFRB2

/ˈpɪt.ɪ.fl̩/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Very poor, weak, or deserving sympathy.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Eliciting contempt.

Examples

  • The little girl, deeply moved by the old man's pitiful story, burst into tears.

  • The pitiful sight moved us to tears.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Of an amount or number: very small.

  2. So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity.

  3. Feeling pity; merciful.

More examples

In context

  • The pitiful tale fetched tears from the girl.

  • A pitiful number of students bothered to turn up.

  • Scotland has a pitiful climate.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The living conditions of the orphans were truly blank, with little food or warm clothes.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English pityful, piteful, piteeful. By surface analysis, pit(i) + -ful.