pitiful

adj
/ˈpɪt.ɪ.fl̩/

Etymology

From Middle English pityful, piteful, piteeful. By surface analysis, pit(i) + -ful.

  1. inherited from pityful

Definitions

  1. So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it

    So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity.

    • Scotland has a pitiful climate.
  2. Eliciting contempt.

  3. Of an amount or number

    Of an amount or number: very small.

    • A pitiful number of students bothered to turn up.
  4. + 2 more definitions
    1. Feeling pity

      Feeling pity; merciful.

      • Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The vvhilſt their ovvne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittifull.
      • Straightway, he now goes on to make a full confession; whereupon the mariners became more and more appalled, but still are pitiful.
    2. In a pitiful manner

      In a pitiful manner; pitifully; piteously; pathetically.

      • ‘She followed ’em, cryin’ pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall[.]’

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at pitiful. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01pitiful02pity03regrettable04regret05sorry06pitifully

A definitional loop anchored at pitiful. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

6 hops · closes at pitiful

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA