PITEOUS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Piteous

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adjective

Piteous adj.

Pious; devout. (Obs.) "The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation."

Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate; tender. "(She) piteous of his case." "She was so charitable and so pitous."

Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable; lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case. "The most piteous tale of Lear."

Paltry; mean; pitiful. "Piteous amends."

Synonyms: Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful; sad; wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful; compassionate.

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Etymology of 'Piteous'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Piteous" Quotes from Famous Books

... away; he could not meet Marguerite's piteous eyes; he feared their mute reproach. Neither did he dare to look at the blind man in his shabby and heroic uniform, with his countenance aged by duty and glory. He ...

— The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... at last distributed among the two Sexes, who made a most piteous Sight, as they wandered up and down under the Pressure of their several Burthens. The whole Plain was filled with Murmurs and Complaints, Groans and Lamentations. Jupiter at length, taking Compassion on the poor Mortals, ordered them a second time to lay down their Loads, ...

— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

... his sacrilege was slain by the angry goddess. It told how the beautiful priestess, coming alone to make prayer in the sanctuary for strength to resist her love, stumbled over the lover's corpse and, knowing it, died of grief. It told how Hathor, goddess of love, melted by the piteous sight, breathed back life into their nostrils, and since they might not remain upon earth, wafted them to the Under-world, where they awoke and embraced and dwell on for ever and for aye, ...

— Morning Star • H. Rider Haggard

... hour rejoice, since only thus Can thy proud heart grow wholly piteous. Thus only to the world thy speech can flow Charged with the sad authority of woe. Since no man nurtured in the shade can sing To a true note one psalm of conquering; Warriors must chant it whom our own ...

— Derrick Vaughan--Novelist • Edna Lyall

... the coals began to burn him, the King came to himself and stood up. "Ho! my captain of the guards!" his Majesty exclaimed, stamping his royal feet with rage. O piteous spectacle! the King's nose was bent quite crooked by the blow of Prince Giglio! His Majesty ground his teeth with rage. "Hedzoff," he said, taking a death-warrant out of his dressing-gown pocket, "Hedzoff, good Hedzoff, ...

— The Christmas Books • William Makepeace Thackeray

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