1
as in pathetic
deserving pitying scorn (as for inadequacy)
that piece of junk is a pitiful excuse for a car
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in lame
arousing or deserving of one's loathing and disgust
a pitiful coward
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in poor
deserving of one's pity
pitiful orphans who had lost everything in the war
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pitiful
The result was a pitiful offensive performance by Kansas City and one of the worst games of Mahomes’ career.
—
Rohan Nadkarni, NBC News, 10 Feb. 2025
Who knew that banning books, paying teachers pitiful salaries and threatening them with jail if they were caught with salacious book titles would be the holy grail of student success?
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 11 Feb. 2025
Who knew that banning books, paying teachers pitiful salaries and threatening them with jail if they were caught with salacious book titles would be the holy grail of student success.
—Letters To The Editor, Orlando Sentinel, 6 Feb. 2025
His second week has been pitiful, a reminder to all of his worst personal flaws.
—Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 1 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pitiful
Rohan Nadkarni, NBC News, 10 Feb. 2025
Who knew that banning books, paying teachers pitiful salaries and threatening them with jail if they were caught with salacious book titles would be the holy grail of student success?
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 11 Feb. 2025
Who knew that banning books, paying teachers pitiful salaries and threatening them with jail if they were caught with salacious book titles would be the holy grail of student success.
—Letters To The Editor, Orlando Sentinel, 6 Feb. 2025
His second week has been pitiful, a reminder to all of his worst personal flaws.
—Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 1 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pitiful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pitiful
Adjective
-
Hechinger is the perfect choice for the role, bringing just the right of optimism and obliviousness to an endearingly pathetic dork who finds the opportunity to be heroic.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
2 Apr. 2025
-
Successful long ago, Shelley is no longer a selling Machine of any sort, and mostly just begs for a break in comically desperate appeals that ping-pong from belligerent to pathetic.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
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
-
There’s a real debate to be had about what responsibility better-off neighborhoods like Hyde Park have to help solve humanitarian problems that often are laid at the feet of poorer areas.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Apr. 2025
-
The strong United cohort, almost entirely comprised of dominant sides under Ferguson, has not shied away from criticising the club, players and managers when results have been poor.—
Elias Burke,
New York Times,
5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Kwong grew up hearing stories of every kind about Manzanar—scary, sad, funny and infuriating.—
Rachel Ng,
Smithsonian Magazine,
27 Mar. 2025
-
Yet, whatever the deal means for Paul, Weiss, its acquiescence to Trump marks a sad day for the legal profession—or what once was a profession, and is now just another business.—
Ruth Marcus,
New Yorker,
27 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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However, note that these are smaller models that could run on a less expensive GPUs or even a CPU with cheaper memory instead of the super expensive HBM memory currently used in all high-end accelerators.—
Karl Freund,
Forbes.com,
3 Apr. 2025
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In the early 1970s, the widespread availability of cheap, preformed fiberglass pools meant the rate of young children drowning soared.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
3 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The longtime Red Sox pitcher and current NESN analyst unloaded on Devers after his wretched season-opening series against the Rangers.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Mar. 2025
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The ones who weren’t downright frauds were only cracked and wretched old women with delusions.—
Charles Portis,
Harper's Magazine,
28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The scene will portray oil workers getting in their trucks and heading to work, thus a dirty vehicle is a must.—
Brayden Garcia,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
2 Apr. 2025
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To understand the increasing flow of dirty stormwater into the system, Miami Waterkeeper and Miami-Dade County put together an audit of the stormwater systems among different municipalities in 2022.—
Courtney Heath,
Miami Herald,
1 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Before Minecraft, the turnout for major films at the box office has been middling to miserable.—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
9 Apr. 2025
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Daryl was born in 1952, four years after the club’s last championship and just in time for four decades of miserable baseball on the lakeshore.—
Zack Meisel,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pitiful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pitiful. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.
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