- 1deserving pity or causing you to feel pity synonym pathetic The horse was a pitiful sight (= because it was very thin or sick).
- 2not deserving respect synonym poor a pitiful effort/excuse/performance pity noun verbpitiful adjectivepitiless adjectivepitiable adjectivepiteous adjective
NAmE//ˈpɪt̮ɪfli//
adverb The dog was whining pitifully. She was pitifully thin. The fee is pitifully low.See pitiful in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: pitiful