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“piteous”
piteous
piteous, pitiable, pitiful
piteous (PIT ee uhs) (adjective)
Referring to something which elicits a strong sense of sympathy or compassion: The circumstances of poverty were piteous and Nikki was motivated to help in the local soup kitchen.
pitiable (PIT ee uh buhl) (adjective)
Wretched, paltry, lamentable: When the Industrial Revolution was just getting started, employees earned pitiable wages and often lived in piteous housing.
pitiful (PIT i fuhl) (adjective)
Concerning a person or animal that is in an unfortunate and sad situation; touching; pathetic; miserable: The man who was standing on the corner looked so pitiful because he had no umbrella and he was being soaked by the unexpected rain.
The famous British author, Charles Dickens, created pitiable characters in his books, for example the pitiful story of Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol. His situation and the poverty of his family was piteous.
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Confusing Words Clarified: Group P; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. +
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