PITY (pitied)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: pitied   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pity mean? 

• PITY (noun)
  The noun PITY has 3 senses:

1. a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others

2. an unfortunate development

3. the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it

  Familiarity information: PITY used as a noun is uncommon.

• PITY (verb)
  The verb PITY has 1 sense:

1. share the suffering of

  Familiarity information: PITY used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

commiseration; pathos; pity; ruth

Context example:

the blind are too often objects of pity

Hypernyms ("pity" is a kind of...):

fellow feeling; sympathy (sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish))

Derivation:

piteous (deserving or inciting pity)

pity (share the suffering of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An unfortunate development

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

pity; shame

Context example:

it's a pity he couldn't do it

Hypernyms ("pity" is a kind of...):

bad luck; misfortune (unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event)

Derivation:

piteous (deserving or inciting pity)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

compassion; pity

Hypernyms ("pity" is a kind of...):

mercifulness; mercy (a disposition to be kind and forgiving)

Derivation:

pity (share the suffering of)

• PITY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pity    ... he / she / it pities   
Past simple: pitied   
Past participle: pitied   
-ing form: pitying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Share the suffering of

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

compassionate; condole with; feel for; pity; sympathize with

Hypernyms (to "pity" is one way to...):

grieve; sorrow (feel grief)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pity"):

commiserate; sympathise; sympathize (to feel or express sympathy or compassion)

care (feel concern or interest)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot pity Sue

Derivation:

pity (the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it)

pity (a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others)

 Context examples 

You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mr Elliot was there; she avoided, but she could pity him.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

But when I remembered the talk I had overheard from the apple barrel, all pity left me.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Then, for pity’s sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister’s death.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Martin found himself pitying him he knew not why, though he was soon to learn.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was imputed to very reasonable weariness, and she was thanked and pitied; but she deserved their pity more than she hoped they would ever surmise.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The king then took pity on him, and said, “You shall be poor no longer. I will give you so much that you shall be even richer than your brother.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

How I pity the poor creatures that are going there!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Nay, by Saint Paul! it were pity if so many brave men were drawn together, and no little deed of arms to come of it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The more I pitied myself, or pitied others, the more I sought for consolation in the image of Dora.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)