a. | 1. | Full of pity; tender-hearted; compassionate; kind; merciful; sympathetic. |
2. | Piteous; lamentable; eliciting compassion. | |
3. | To be pitied for littleness or meanness; miserable; paltry; contemptible; despicable. |
Adj. | 1. | pitiful - inspiring mixed contempt and pity; "their efforts were pathetic"; "pitiable lack of character"; "pitiful exhibition of cowardice" |
2. | pitiful - bad; unfortunate; "my finances were in a deplorable state"; "a lamentable decision"; "her clothes were in sad shape"; "a sorry state of affairs" | |
3. | pitiful - deserving or inciting pity; "a hapless victim"; "miserable victims of war"; "the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic"- Galsworthy; "piteous appeals for help"; "pitiable homeless children"; "a pitiful fate"; "Oh, you poor thing"; "his poor distorted limbs"; "a wretched life" |