piteous

American  

[pit-ee-uhs] / ˈpɪt i əs /

adjective

1. evoking or deserving pity; pathetic.

   piteous cries for help.

   Synonyms:

   sorrowful, wretched, sad, woeful, lamentable, moving, affecting

2. Archaic. compassionate.

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piteous British  

/ ˈpɪtɪəs /

adjective

1. exciting or deserving pity

2. archaic having or expressing pity

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Related Words

See pitiful.

Other Word Forms

• overpiteous adjective
• overpiteously adverb
• overpiteousness noun
• piteously adverb
• piteousness noun
• unpiteous adjective
• unpiteously adverb

Etymology

Origin of piteous

1250–1300; Middle English; replacing pitous < Old French < Medieval Latin pietōsus. See pity, -ous

Example Sentences

But Mr. Abeysekera’s lively turn makes Hamlet’s death feel that much more piteous—a young man of limitless intellect and energies cut down before his life has properly begun.

From The Wall Street Journal

But Homes retains a quality of resigned sympathy with these anxious, immensely self-important characters — a tincture of compassion that makes them feel all the more piteous.

From Washington Post

As I type this — alone in an upstairs room — a piteous sound is issuing from the floor below.

From Washington Post

When Sarah, introducing herself to her class, mentions a brother who died, her reflex not to seem piteous makes her explanation weirdly funny: “He was just like a baby, so it wasn’t sad or anything.”

From New York Times

I knocked out the interview and posted the story, and was smugly strolling back to the kitchen thinking aloud, "I can have it all," when I came upon a piteous sight.

From Salon