Dictionary

piteously en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɪ.ti.əs.li/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English piteuously, pitously; equivalent to piteous + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a piteous manner; pathetically; plaintively.
   • He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a door-step. 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 36–37:
   • Across her mind, and bowing over him, Low to her own heart piteously she said: 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 5:
   • Little Sea and Desire would wail piteously over my body for a day, and then I should be quickly forgotten. 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 194:
   • Adam himself bewildered and Eveless outside the garden; a Minotaur howling piteously in a labyrinth of money-worries. 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 132:

Forms