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pity

noun
/ˈpɪt.i/

Etymology

From Middle English pitye, pitie, pittye, pitee, pite, from Anglo-Norman pité, pittee etc., from Old French pitet, pitié, from Latin pietās. See also the doublets pietà and piety.

  1. derived from pietās
  2. derived from pitet
  3. derived from pité
  4. inherited from pitye

Definitions

  1. A feeling of sympathy at the misfortune or suffering of someone or something.

    • I can't feel any pity towards the gang, who got injured while attempting to break into a flat.
    • take pity on someone
    • He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.

  2. Feeling of contempt one has for someone who is hopelessly inferior.

  3. Something regrettable.

    • It's a pity you're feeling unwell because there's a party on tonight.
    • What a pity about the band breaking up. I loved them!
    • It was a thousand pities.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. Piety.

    2. To feel pity for (someone or something).

      • You have got to pity the guy - he lost his wife, mother and job in the same month.
      • Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
      • Well! the King of France died pardoning & pitying all those who had tortured his Soul & Body, a great Pattern for us all.

    3. To feel contempt for someone who is hopelessly inferior.

    4. To make (someone) feel pity

      To make (someone) feel pity; to provoke the sympathy or compassion of.

      • She lenger yet is like captiv'd to bee; / That even to thinke thereof it inly pitties mee.
      • It pitieth them to see her in the dust.

    5. Ellipsis of what a pity.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at pity. 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.

01pity02misfortune03undesirable04desirable05desired06desire07request08ask09petition10mercy

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

10 hops · closes at pity

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