ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Piteous

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Part of speech adjective

Quick meaning: Piteous is an adjective meaning Provoking pity, compassion, or sympathy.

Meaning

Provoking pity, compassion, or sympathy.

More Meanings

  1. (obsolete) Showing devotion to God.
  2. (obsolete) Showing compassion.
  3. (obsolete) Of little importance or value.

Example Sentences

As fear chilled him to the bone, he loosed a final piteous groan.
“[…] you go out to beg, first smearing yourself with mud and filth to make yourselves as piteous as you can.”
For the Lord kan delyuere piteuouse men fro temptacioun, and kepe wickid men in to the dai of dom to be turmentid;
In the deep, still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead, heavy footsteps and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door.

Synonyms for piteous

Depending on context, synonyms include heartbreaking, heartrending, lamentable, pathetic, pitiful, compassionate.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include pitiful, pathetic, pitiable, wretched, miserable, misfortunate.

Related Dictionary Tools

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.