1
as in pitiful
arousing or deserving of one's loathing and disgust
the sales presentation was a pitiable display of ineptitude and disorganization
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pathetic
deserving pitying scorn (as for inadequacy)
a pitiable attempt at singing that generated snickers
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in poor
deserving of one's pity
a pitiable, starving old dog
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pitiable
Visiting the White Lotus’ Thailand hotel to learn new techniques and share her own, Belinda’s arc is less pitiable this season, but her purpose is arguably even more critical.
—
Ben Travers, IndieWire, 11 Feb. 2025
The series’ pitiable ghost is Kayako (Takako Fuji), at the receiving end of violence in life, prone to continue inflicting violence on others in death.
—Gayle Sequeira, Vulture, 20 Jan. 2025
Part of that is Doug, who is too pitiable to make a compelling center.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
Visiting the White Lotus’ Thailand hotel to learn new techniques and share her own, Belinda’s arc is less pitiable this season, but her purpose is arguably even more critical.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 11 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pitiable
Ben Travers, IndieWire, 11 Feb. 2025
The series’ pitiable ghost is Kayako (Takako Fuji), at the receiving end of violence in life, prone to continue inflicting violence on others in death.
—Gayle Sequeira, Vulture, 20 Jan. 2025
Part of that is Doug, who is too pitiable to make a compelling center.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
Visiting the White Lotus’ Thailand hotel to learn new techniques and share her own, Belinda’s arc is less pitiable this season, but her purpose is arguably even more critical.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 11 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pitiable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pitiable
Adjective
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Look, everyone points to injuries as the reason for the pitiful performance so far this season, but a lot of teams are dealing with injuries.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
21 Apr. 2025
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So many of the latter comes thanks to Niecy Nash’s Nurse DiDi, who seems to take the time to see her patients as worthwhile much more often than her cohorts, the self-important Dr. Jenna James (Laurie Metcalf) and pitiful nurse Dawn (Alex Borstein).—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
21 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
No other governor, remember, has tried to pull off this pathetic budget stunt.—
Joe Soucheray,
Twin Cities,
10 May 2025
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In his last, most pathetic years, Mark Twain threw himself behind the crackpot theory that the true author of Shakespeare’s plays may have been Francis Bacon.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
9 May 2025
Adjective
-
Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns each added 23 points and OG Anunoby bounced back from two poor performances by scoring 20 for the Knicks, who can win the series Wednesday night at Boston.—
Brian Mahoney,
Baltimore Sun,
13 May 2025
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Boston built big second-half leads on New York in both Games 1 and 2 at home, but squandered them due to uncharacteristically poor 3-point shooting.—
Tyler Everett,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 May 2025
Adjective
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As holidays go, however, Flag Day can feel a bit lame.—
Kevin Fisher-Paulson,
San Francisco Chronicle,
8 June 2021
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My 11-year-old loved watching the pups roll balls and play a giant floor piano, but for non-dog owners (guilty as charged), parts of the series—like dressing dogs in little hats and outfits for a Parisian fashion show—feel lame.—
Tim Neville,
Outside Online,
23 Nov. 2020
Adjective
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Her story is beautiful and sad, heartwarming and devastating.—
American Booksellers Association,
USA Today,
3 May 2025
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If my random and unscientific survey of some French opinion at all represents the nation’s as a whole, then the debut of Donald Trump’s America has left some French triste — a bit sad, even brokenhearted, and also wary and vigilant.—
Patt Morrison,
Los Angeles Times,
3 May 2025
Adjective
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Twain’s wife, Olivia Langdon, bore him four children, only one of whom escaped a wretched end.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
9 May 2025
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Roaches and a wretched food truck inspection lowlight this week’s list of South Florida restaurants shut down by state inspection.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
9 May 2025
Adjective
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Tesla troubles: Amid tough year, Tesla releases a new, cheaper version of the Model Y Is the 2025 Tesla Model Y a good SUV to get?—
Charles Singh,
USA Today,
10 May 2025
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High energy costs overall are due to a number of factors, including inefficiencies, losses, theft, inflation, and quirks of long-term contracts that result in the utility paying for more expensive power sources even when cheaper ones are available.—
Christine Ro,
Forbes.com,
9 May 2025
Adjective
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Their defensive game plan was clearly to make Kucherov’s life miserable, and the defending champions succeeded mightily.—
Josh Yohe,
New York Times,
1 May 2025
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Wall Street racked up yet one more miserable day in a month of miserable days on April 21, once again seeing a sizable selloff in both the stock market and the bond market, as the Standard & Poor's 500 fell 2.36% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.48%.—
Susan Tompor,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pitiable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pitiable. Accessed 18 May. 2025.
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