WRETCHED • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Wretched

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/rˈɛtʃɪd/ Listen

adjective

Wretched adj.

Very miserable; sunk in, or accompanied by, deep affliction or distress, as from want, anxiety, or grief; calamitous; woeful; very afflicting. "To what wretched state reserved!" "O cruel! Death! to those you are more kind Than to the wretched mortals left behind."

Worthless; paltry; very poor or mean; miserable; as, a wretched poem; a wretched cabin.

Hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked. (Obs.) "Wretched ungratefulness." "Nero reigned after this Claudius, of all men wretchedest, ready to all manner (of) vices."

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Etymology of 'Wretched'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Wretched" Quotes from Famous Books

... not understand—men never can understand the love of women. Wives, above all, are so very jealous. Fancy, if ever I wanted to make your tea, or get anything ready for you, she would be angry, and I should be wretched." ...

— Coralie • Charlotte M. Braeme

... lost no time in assuming the offensive, demanding indignantly in a high head-voice, before the Iron King had crossed his own threshold, why no quarters had been found for him and how much longer any one imagined that he would put up with the indignity of being bandied from one wretched house to another. ...

— Defenders of Democracy • The Militia of Mercy

... feeling herself a truly wretched mother. As usual, the thought pressed upon her that people would think she had done something wicked to deserve her maternal troubles, while Mrs. Pullet began to give elaborate directions to Sally how to ...

— The Mill on the Floss • George Eliot

... . . . . The name was ringing like a knell in Hodder's head—Eldon Parr! Coming, as it had, like a curse from the lips of this wretched, half-demented creature, it filled his soul with dismay. And the accusation had in it the profound ring of truth. He was Eldon Parr's minister, and it was Eldon Parr who stood between him ...

— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... and exhibited symptoms of delirium tremens. Two officers remained with him, but the assistance of a third shortly became necessary, owing to the violence of his struggles. Towards midnight his fury lessened, and, after a very brief interval of unconsciousness, the wretched ...

— The Unclassed • George Gissing

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