WRETCH

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone you feel sorry for

Synonyms:

poor devil; wretch

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

victim (an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Performs some wicked deed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

miscreant; reprobate (a person without moral scruples)

Credits

Context examples:

Then, with a frightful heave they shot the poor wretch over the precipice.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Rest assured of this, that if all else fail I have always a safeguard here—drawing a small silver-hilted poniard from her bosom—which sets me beyond the fear of these vile and blood-stained wretches.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In fact, in the whole of that floor there was no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, it seems, made his home there.

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

Then, as he turned to leave the room, the captain seized him by the wrist, imploring him, by the memory of their mother, to have mercy upon him; and I loved my master as I saw him drag his sleeve from the grasp of the clutching fingers, and leave the stricken wretch grovelling upon the floor.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“You wretch,” cried he, “you shall soon learn what it is to shudder, for you shall die.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

How sweet is the affection of others to such a wretch as I am!

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Call yourself any names you like, but I am neither a rascal nor a wretch and I don't choose to be called so.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He's a pleasant wretch, but he wants principle.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Whom?” I asked; but the poor wretch was weeping again over his misfortunes.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Because I get it back from the worthless wretch who stole it, from the woman who robbed the dead and the living.