Dictionary

pitiable en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈpɪti.əbəl/

Etymology

From Middle French [Term?], from Old French piteable. By surface analysis, pity + -able.

Meanings

1. That deserves, evokes or can be given pity; pitiful.
   • The faintness of the voice was pitiable and dreadful. It was not the faintness of physical weakness, though confinement and hard fare no doubt had their part in it. Its deplorable peculiarity was, that it was the faintness of solitude and disuse. It was like the last feeble echo of a sound made long and long ago. 1859, Charles Dickens, chapter 6, in A Tale of Two Cities:
   • Mr Poyser had no reason to be ashamed of his leg, and suspected that the growing abuse of top-boots and other fashions tending to disguise the nether limbs, had their origin in a pitiable degeneracy of the human calf. 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Church”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book second, page 20:
   • Fatigued by riding on horseback, bedevilled and begrimed by the ride on manback, he presented a pitiable spectacle, and went on his way to Naples in sad plight. 1891, Daniel Ammen, The Old Navy and the New, page 205:

Forms

Deriveds

unpitiable · pitiably · pitiableness

Synonyms

piteous · pathetic · rueful · ruthful · snivelly · ruthful · pitisome · pitisome · sorry-ass · pitiful · piteous · pathetisad · pitiable · compassionate · sad · poor

Translations (19)

gv treih (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · tr acınası (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · de bedauerlich (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · hi दयनीय (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · grc ἐλεεινός (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · fr pitoyable (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · de erbärmlich (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · cmn 悲悽 /悲凄 (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · de kläglich (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · es lastimoso (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · cs ubohý (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · ga truacánta (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · bg жалък (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · cs žalostný (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · de erbarmenswert (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · bg клет (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · grc οἰκτρός (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · de bedauernswert (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity) · es lastimero (that deserves, evokes or can be given pity)