pitiable, piteous

pitiable, piteous
Pitiable means "deserving of pity," "producing compassion," or "lamentable": "These hungry children are pitiable." "The destitute family was living in a pitiable shack." Piteous refers to that which excites pity because it is suffering and miserable: "The piteous cries of the dying men echoed through the emergency room." A related word, pitiful, has the meanings of both pitiable and piteous: "a pitiful street beggar," "a pitiful exhibition."

Dictionary of problem words and expressions. . 1975.

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  • piteous — See pitiable, piteous …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • pitiable — See pitiable, piteous …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • pitiable — piteous, pitiable, pitiful All three words are recorded from Middle English and share the basic meaning ‘arousing pity’ and are to some extent interchangeable (as in The abandoned children were a piteous sight), although pitiful is the most… …   Modern English usage

  • piteous — piteous, pitiable, pitiful All three words are recorded from Middle English and share the basic meaning ‘arousing pity’ and are to some extent interchangeable (as in The abandoned children were a piteous sight), although pitiful is the most… …   Modern English usage

  • Pitiable — Pit i*a*ble, a. [Cf. OF. pitiable, F. pitoyable.] Deserving pity; wworthy of, or exciting, compassion; miserable; lamentable; piteous; as, pitiable persons; a pitiable condition; pitiable wretchedness. [1913 Webster] Syn: Sorrowful; woeful; sad.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Piteous — Pit e*ous, a. [OE. pitous, OF. pitos, F. piteux. See {Pity}.] 1. Pious; devout. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation. Wyclif. [1913 Webster] 2. Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate; tender. [She] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • piteous — *pitiful, pitiable Analogous words: imploring, supplicating, entreating, beseeching (see BEG): *melancholy, doleful, dolorous, plaintive …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • piteous — [adj] miserable, pathetic beseeching, commiserable, deplorable, distressing, doleful, dolorous, entreating, grievous, heartbreaking, heartrending, imploring, lamentable, melancholy, mournful, moving, pitiable, pitiful, plaintive, poignant, poor,… …   New thesaurus

  • pitiable — 1 piteous, *pitiful Analogous words: sad, depressed, dejected, melancholy (see corresponding nouns at SADNESS): forlorn, hopeless, despairing, desperate, *despondent 2 despicable, *contemptible, sorry, scurvy, cheap, beggarly, shabby Analogous… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • piteous — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) adj. grievous, sorrowful; pitiable, pathetic; wretched, miserable. See pain, pity. II (Roget s IV) modif. Syn. pitiful, wretched, miserable; see pitiful 1 . See Synonym Study at pitiful . III (Roget s 3… …   English dictionary for students

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