woeful, a.
(ˈwəʊfʊl)
Also woful.
[f. woe n. + -ful. (Revived or newly formed c 1750.)]
1. Of persons, their attributes, actions, etc.: Full of woe; afflicted with sorrow, distress, or misfortune; sorrowful, mournful.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11564 Ful waful made he mani wijf! c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame i. 214 Wepynge with ful woful chere. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 260 Wher thei myhten se The wofulleste upon this Molde. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 950 A wery wafulle wedowe, wryngande hire handez. 1470–85 Malory Arthur iv. vi. 126 Herynge aboute hym many complayntes of woful knyghtes. 1549 Compl. Scot. vii. 68 It aperit be hyr voful contenens, that sche vas in grite dout ande dreddour. a 1557 N. Grimalde in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 112 For Wilford felt the wayters wayfull wo. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks Introd. (1621) A 4, The infinite number of wofull Christians (whose grieuous groanings vnder the heauie yoke of infidelitie no tongue is able to expresse). 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. i. v. §14 They dispatch Petition after Petition, Embassie on Embassie, representing their wofull estate. 1802 Leyden Lord Soulis xl, When Soulis thought on his merriemen now, A woeful wight was he. 1825 Macaulay Ess., Milton ¶45 The haggard and woful stare of the eye. 1885 E. Arnold Secret of Death 10 Be sure that woeful father wept. |
2. Of times, places, occurrences, etc.: Fraught with woe, affliction, or misery; miserable.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2882, I rede yow take Ensaumple bi þis waful wrake. c 1400 Melayne 260 Oure knyghtis one þ⊇ gronde lyse With wondes wyde one wafull wyse. c 1480 Henryson Want of Wyse Men 7 This is a wofull werde. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. v. 49 O wo, O wofull, wofull, wofull day. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 240 That wofull war betweene the houses of Lancaster and Yorke. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 554 In this wofull Towne dwell not above two or three hundred Inhabitants. 1642–3 Petit. Gen. Assembly 4 Jan. 1 In this wofull case, and lamentable condition of your Majesties Dominions. 1777 Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port. lvi, Many old palaces going to ruins, the woeful memorials of antient splendour. 1803 Scott Gray Brother xx, A woful place was that, I ween, As sorrow could desire. 1853 Hawthorne Tanglewood T., Minotaur 28 The wofulest anniversary in the whole year. |
3. In weakened or trivial senses: Such as to excite commiseration or dissatisfaction; ‘grievous’, ‘sad’, unpleasant; very bad, poor, or mean; ‘pitiful’, ‘deplorable’, ‘wretched’.
| 1619 J. Taylor (Water P.) Kicksey Winsey B 5, These mens honesties are like their states, At piteous, wofull, and at low priz'd rates. 1647 in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 496 Mun, poore childe, is a woefull schollar. 1650 B. Discolliminium 2 It is a wofull while a coming. 1691 Mrs. D'Anvers Academia 53 She's in a woful taking, When once she comes to miss her Bacon. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 418 What woful stuff this madrigal would be. 1723 Chambers tr. Le Clerc's Archit. I. 117 Two Imposts over each other wou'd have a woful Effect. 1798 S. & Ht. Lee Cant. T., Young Lady's T. II. 546 [She] had many good qualities, but was a woeful manager of children. 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. lxiii, He..has a woful consciousness upon him of being a scapegrace. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting ii. 44, I had to return to camp..in a woful plight, minus my hat, and my shirt torn to ribbons. 1905 Times Lit. Suppl. 2 June 176/3 Wild dogs have..made woful havoc of the sambar and spotted deer. 1920 Ibid. 2 Sept. 558/1 The woful results of uncritical thinking. |
4. In comb. with another adj., as woeful-wan; also advb. = woefully.
| 1750 Gray Elegy 107 Now drooping, woeful-wan, like one forlorn. 1794 Girlhood of M. J. Holroyd (1896) 259 His others are woful bad. 1820 S. Rogers Hum. Life 282 One woeful-wan, one merrier yet as mad. |