woeful en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈwəʊfəl/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From Middle English woful, waful, equivalent to woe + -ful. Compare Old English wālīċ (“woeful”), Old English tēonful (“woeful”).
Meanings
-
Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity.
How many woeful widows left to bow / To sad disgrace!
1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:
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Bringing calamity, distress, or affliction.
a woeful event
a woeful lack of restraint
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Lamentable, deplorable.
Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy: This wide and universal theatre Presents more woeful pageants than the scene Wherein we play in.
c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], lines 1033-36:
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Wretched; paltry; poor.
What woful stuff this madrigal would be / In some starv'd hackney sonneteer or me!
1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 72:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| woful | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic | |
| woefullest | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| woefuller | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| wofull | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Synonyms
disastrous · poor · woeful · disadventurous · sorry · risible · heartrending · rinky-dink · trashy · debacular · dull · ignominious · saddened · scurvy · scrubby · dismal · low · pound-shop · inferior · sad · disreputable · despisable · crummy · shit · low-rent · reptitious · bottom-shelf · tragic · lame · deadly · discreditable · reprehensive · sad · sullen · pathetic · woe · reptile · crappo · naughty · downcast · threnetic · passionate · scabbed · third-rate · shattered · slight · depressing · threnetical · shit · uncheerful · low-quality · made in China · chintzy · scald · low-grade · paltry · blue · roynish · miserable · elegiac · blameworthy · punk · crappy · rueful · miserable · garbage · jawfallen · coffee-and · plaintive · atrabiliary · atrabiliary · slavish · rubbish · unhappy · ruinous · sorrowful · poor man's · down in the mouth · shoddy · heavy-hearted · sorrow-ridden · chopfallen · groveling · upsetting · subpar · depressed · substandard · joyless · slimy · damnable · cataclysmal · calamitous · bum · sorrowsome · craptacular · scornworthy · cheesy · god-awful · wretched · ropy · cut up · punk · deplorable · lamentful · inconsolable · dogwater · miserable · uncool · saturnine · glum · mournful · woeful · disgruntled · damp · ticky-tacky · unconsolable · dedecorous · heartsore · loathsome · melancholic · dolesome · fourth-rate · grieving · low · moody · destructive · flimsy · wistful · atrabilious · reptilian · ass · second-rate · hylic · unmentionable · elegious · pitiable · gash · disconsolate · base · cataclysmic · dispirited · vile · schlocky · craptabulous · carrion · heartbreaking · below par · Plutonic · gloomy · degraded · disdainable · spiritless · shite · filthy · cruddy · mopey · weak · woebegone · harmful · cheapshit · wretched · sombre · lousy · triste · chapfallen · unworthy · atrabilious · lethal · mid · despondent · tenth-rate · bad · cheap and nasty · mean-spirited · apocalyptic · forlorn · shameful · blitheless · deplorable · deridable · ignoble · lumpish · vulgar · slim · uncommendable · derisible · sad · craptastic · cringing · devastating · obscene · slazy · tin-pot · crap · bummed out · despicable · drecky · woebegone · sleazy · plebeian · woe · calamitous · pathetic · dejected · morose · crapperific · down in the dumps · fatal · infelicitous · sorrowful · tristful · BTEC · under par · unhappy · reprehensible · beggarly · putrid · crestfallen · outrageous · trash · dishonorable · low-spirited · uncheery · ludicrous · lachrymose · trashy · mournful · disgraceful · distressing · woeful · contemptible · rueful · lugubrious · woebegone · lachrymable · sordid · lousy · base · scummy · grievous · downhearted · miserable · disheartened · unwashed · disastrous · dirty · ruthful · cheerless · shoddy · one-star · wretched · pissass · melancholy · inferior · saddening · choical · Plutonian · down · inglorious · querulous · downsome · shabby · unlively · pernicious · execrable · cheap · pitiful · doleful · worthless · unsophisticated · mean · ridiculous · cheap · regrettable · hylical · heartsick · shitty · ugly · solemn · laughable · eradicative · low · extirpative · grief-stricken · catastrophic · abject · lamentable · woeful