How to Use pitiful in a Sentence

pitiful

adjective

• She made a pitiful attempt to complete her work.
• My thoughts seemed so pitiful when put up against the words on the page.
  — New York Times, 2 Nov. 2021
• But for the most part, those stories are rather pitiful.
  — Kathryn Shattuck, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2018
• Alas, these local heat sources swamp the pitiful flames of primeval stars.
  — Quanta Magazine, 3 Dec. 2021
• Poor, pitiful Joe Flacco was sacked eight times for a loss of 72 yards.
  — Mark Kiszla, The Denver Post, 17 Oct. 2019
• In two weeks, Kirk Cousins has gone from perfect to pitiful.
  — Chris Tomasson, Twin Cities, 24 Aug. 2019
• Hardy looked at me, all sad and pitiful with the corners of his mouth folded down.
  — Seija Rankin, EW.com, 6 Oct. 2021
• Game 3 was pitiful once again with six points from the bench, and P.J. Tucker, thrust in to the starter role, had zero.
  — Lori Nickel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 June 2021
• All the United States could muster was a pitiful men's curling bronze in 2006.
  — Matt Bonesteel, Anchorage Daily News, 23 Feb. 2018
• But, for the onset, the Blazers were pitiful on offense.
  — oregonlive, 7 Mar. 2022
• The whole pitiful saga does have the ring of destiny calling at last, with nothing but kind words.
  — Hannah Gold, Harper's Magazine, 3 Nov. 2023
• The Cavs’ defense entered Saturday as the third-worst in the league, ahead of only the pitiful Suns and Kings.
  — Rohan Nadkarni, SI.com, 20 Jan. 2018
• The pitiful part of the entire scenario is that those of us this racial score-keeping is supposed to help are harmed the most.
  — WSJ, 11 Mar. 2018
• If the Cavs come anywhere near the Finals with this pitiful defense, the Warriors will score 150 a night.
  — Rohan Nadkarni, SI.com, 2 Nov. 2017
• In three of their last five games, A&M has shot below 24% from deep — including the pitiful 4.5% in the loss to Kentucky.
  — Dallas News, 29 Jan. 2022
• The 8- and 10-inch Fire tablets are understandably weak due to their budget prices, but the Fire 7 is pitiful.
  — Jeffrey Van Camp, WIRED, 18 Oct. 2017
• An example of the first school: the pitiful and spineless Joe McGinniss.
  — Robert Gottlieb, New York Times, 12 Dec. 2019
• The same could be said about the people fighting over it, every last one of whom is greedy, selfish, and pitiful.
  — David Klion, The New Republic, 15 Oct. 2019
• Colorado should be ashamed of the pitiful condition of I-70.
  — Tj Hutchinson, The Denver Post, 14 June 2024
• Yep, Cousins still is a key player, even after his pitiful game against the Packers.
  — Bob Sansevere, Twin Cities, 29 Dec. 2019
• Texas Tech’s pass rush has been nothing short of pitiful in recent years, but the trend could shift with the names coming to Lubbock.
  — Dallas News, 2 Feb. 2022
• That is pitiful compared with, say, the concrete dome of the Pantheon in Rome—which was completed in 125AD and still stands.
  — The Economist, 2 Nov. 2019
• No, not the same vibe but that’s a snapshot of how big the win was in Death Valley even though Ed Orgeron’s product is pitiful.
  — Charles Hollis, al, 8 Oct. 2021
• The Pelicans had one last chance to score toward the end of a pitiful first-half performance.
  — Staff Report, NOLA.com, 29 Dec. 2020
• Through the years, black coaches have heard a host of excuses to explain away the pitiful numbers.
  — Jerome Solomon, ExpressNews.com, 27 June 2020
• As for the Mets, thank God for the pitiful Marlins, the only thing standing in the way of them going on their first road trip of the season as a last-place team.
  — Bill Madden, New York Daily News, 6 Apr. 2024
• At the bottom of the card is a pitiful solicitation that the card be returned.
  — John Hirschauer, National Review, 12 Oct. 2019
• Hence the pitiful moment when Casey, progressing to the next level in karate, earns a yellow belt.
  — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 12 July 2019
• The researchers concluded that the average mucus shot into tissues during a cold was the pitiful amount of between zero and 30.4 grams per day.
  — Bethany Brookshire, Scientific American, 9 Aug. 2024
• After almost two and a half centuries, turning the tables and whittling a man down to a pitiful creature is still a revolutionary act.
  — Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2024

Last Updated: 4 Nov 2024