Hypertext Webster Gateway: "piteous"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Piteous \Pit"e*ous\, a. [OE. pitous, OF. pitos, F. piteux. See
{Pity}.]
1. Pious; devout. [Obs.]

The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation.
--Wyclif.

2. Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate;
tender. ``[She] piteous of his case.'' --Pope.

She was so charitable and so pitous. --Chaucer.

3. Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable;
lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case. --Spenser.

The most piteous tale of Lear. --Shak.

4. Paltry; mean; pitiful. ``Piteous amends.'' --Milton.

Syn: Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful;
sad; wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful;
compassionate. -- {Pit"e*ous*ly}, adv. --
{Pit"e*ous*ness}, n.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

piteous
adj : deserving or inciting pity; "a hapless victim"; "miserable
victims of war"; "the shabby room struck her as
extraordinarily pathetic"- Galsworthy; "piteous appeals
for help"; "pitiable homeless children"; "a pitiful
fate"; "couldn't rescue the poor fellow"; "his poor
distorted limbs"; "a wretched life" [syn: {hapless}, {miserable},
{misfortunate}, {pathetic}, {pitiable}, {pitiful}, {poor},
{wretched}]


Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup

Enter word here:
Exact Approx


dict.stokkie.net
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents; see the Webster Gateway FAQ, and also the Back-end/database links and credits.