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PITIABLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Inspiring mixed contempt and pity
Example:
pitiful exhibition of cowardice
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
contemptible (deserving of contempt or scorn)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Deserving or inciting pity
Example:
a wretched life
Synonyms:
hapless; miserable; misfortunate; pathetic; piteous; pitiable; pitiful; poor; wretched
Classified under:
Similar:
unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)
Context examples:
It did not try to get away, but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was in such a pitiable state of terror that I tried, though without effect, to comfort it.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit what I shall soon cease to be—a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others and intolerable to myself.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Then she had, indeed, been a pitiable object; for she had caught cold on the journey, and had hardly taken possession of her lodgings before she was again confined to her bed and suffering under severe and constant pain; and all this among strangers, with the absolute necessity of having a regular nurse, and finances at that moment particularly unfit to meet any extraordinary expense.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Thomas Mugridge turned a pitiable scared face.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Mrs. Bennet was really in a most pitiable state.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
In that, he could not be defended; but if he had injured her, how much more had he injured himself; if her case were pitiable, his was hopeless.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
What could have happened, then, to bring one of the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass?
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The unfortunate tutor was certainly in a state of pitiable agitation when we found him in his chambers.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards left the house, leaving my father in a state of pitiable nervousness.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But White Fang sat on his haunches and ki-yi'd and ki-yi'd, a forlorn and pitiable little figure in the midst of the man-animals.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
