Synonyms for pitiful
- adjective
Most common
pathetic deplorable pitiable piteous insignificant paltry snively pitisome
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Pathetic
pathetic, pitiable, wretched, poor, miserable, piteous, contemptible, sorry, lamentable, despicable, woeful, deplorable, lousy, worthless, abject, shabby, vile, rueful, sorrowful, ignominious, hapless, tragic
2. Paltry — of an amount or number, very small
paltry, insignificant, meager US CA, meagre UK, trifling, low, unimportant, scanty, scant, thin, piddling, inconsequential, frivolous, inconsiderable, slender
3. Merciful — feeling pity; merciful
merciful, sympathetic, lenient, clement, ruthful, commiserative, compassionate dated
Other
snively, pitisome, heart-rending, lachrymable dated
Definitions
- adj. 1
Of an amount or number: very small.
A pitiful number of students bothered to turn up.
- adj. 2
Feeling pity; merciful.
- adj. 3
So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity.
Scotland has a pitiful climate.
Related words
- Word family
- pitiable pity pitying
- Is a kind of
- lamentable sympathetic
Choose the right word
Pitiful and paltry are applied to cases which are beneath anger, and are simply contemptible in a high degree.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Example sentences
- pathetic The education in that institute is simply pathetic.
- deplorable The roads of this city are in deplorable condition.
- pitiable Jason is no bad guy, but rather a pitiable loser.
- piteous He looked piteous, like a drowned mouse.
- insignificant There is no such thing as an insignificant detail.
- paltry These shoes cost me the paltry sum of ten euros.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| pitiful | rising | |
| pathetic | rising | |
| deplorable | falling | |
| pitiable | steady | |
| piteous | rising | |
| insignificant | falling |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- low1
- 4 letters
- poor1, thin1, vile1
- 5 letters
- sorry2, lousy2, scant1
- 6 letters
- tragic2, shabby2, abject2, meager2, paltry2, meagre, woeful2, scanty2, rueful2
- 7 letters
- slender2, clement2, lenient3, hapless2, piteous, snively2, ruthful
- 8 letters
- pathetic3, wretched2, merciful3, trifling2, pitiable4, piddling3, pitisome
- 9 letters
- miserable4, worthless2, frivolous3, sorrowful3
- 10 letters
- despicable4, deplorable4, lamentable4
- 11 letters
- sympathetic4, unimportant4, ignominious5, lachrymable
- 12 letters
- contemptible4
- 13 letters
- insignificant5, compassionate4, commiserative
- 14 letters
- inconsiderable
- 15 letters
- inconsequential5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (sorry2 = 2 syllables).