pitiful, a.
(ˈpɪtɪfʊl)
[f. pity n. + -ful.]
† 1. Characterized by piety; pious. Obs. rare.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xviii. 262 Encrece thow riȝtwisnes to piteful men [piis adauge gratiam]. 1570 Levins Manip. 186/1 Pittiful, pius, misericors. |
2. Full of or characterized by pity; compassionate, merciful, tender.
| 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) ii. 286/2 Thenne this pytefull man..dyde almesse. 1526 Tindale Jas. v. 11 The lorde is very pitifull and mercifull. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xx. 100 Shewing his pietifull affeccion. 1595 Shakes. John iv. iii. 2 The Wall is high, and yet will I leape downe. Good ground, be pittifull and hurt me not. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 623 He was pitiful to the poor, and hospitable to his neighbours. a 1716 Bp. O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. 20 A pitiful and compassionate Temper. 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost vii. 186 Why did our Divine Master, pitiful and tender as He is, speak so sternly? |
3. Exciting or fitted to excite pity; pitiable, piteous, deplorable, lamentable. (Usually, now always, of actions, conditions, sights, cries, or the like; formerly also of persons.)
| c 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 236 This ded body that lyth here in grave, Wrappyd in a petefull plyght. 1532 Tindale Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 91 How pale and pitiful look they,..hanging down their heads. 1647 Sprigge Anglia Rediv. ii. i. 66 The pittifullest spectacle that man can behold. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Pitiful, said of the Condition of one that is reduc'd to great Misery, and excites Pity. 1868 E. Edwards Ralegh I. xxvi. 672 A pitiful account of his sorrows and perplexities. 1871 Morley Vauvenargues in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. (1878) 6 The pitiful fate of his friend. |
† b. as adv. Pitifully. Obs.
| 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. ix. (1633) 117 He was pittifull hurt with a gun. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. ii. 29 The God of loue that..knowes me, how pittifull I deserue. |
4. To be pitied for its littleness or meanness; exciting pitying contempt; miserably insignificant or trifling, despicable, contemptible. (Cf. miserable, wretched, in similar use.)
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 95 Feare shews pitfle crauens. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. ii. vii. (1622) 42 Many such simple and friuolous matters, and more mildly to terme them, pittifull. 1659–60 Pepys Diary 26 Feb., A pitiful copy of verses. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 28 It is no more but a pitiful Village. 1771 Junius Lett. liv. (1820) 288, I see the pitiful advantage he has taken. 1874 L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. iv. 130 When you talk such pitiful trash about rewarding me. |
5. Comb., as pitiful-hearted.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 134 Pittiful hearted Titan that melted at the sweete Tale of the Sunne. |