| / English Dictionary |
WRETCHED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Characterized by physical misery
Example:
spent a wretched night on the floor
Synonyms:
miserable; wretched
Classified under:
Similar:
uncomfortable (providing or experiencing physical discomfort)
Derivation:
wretchedness (the character of being uncomfortable and unpleasant)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Deserving or inciting pity
Example:
a wretched life
Synonyms:
hapless; miserable; misfortunate; pathetic; piteous; pitiable; pitiful; poor; wretched
Classified under:
Similar:
unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)
Derivation:
wretchedness (a state of ill-being due to affliction or misfortune)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Morally reprehensible
Example:
a slimy little liar
Synonyms:
despicable; slimy; ugly; unworthy; vile; worthless; wretched
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
evil (morally bad or wrong)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Very unhappy; full of misery
Example:
wretched prisoners huddled in stinking cages
Synonyms:
miserable; suffering; wretched
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unhappy (experiencing or marked by or causing sadness or sorrow or discontent)
Derivation:
wretchedness (a state of ill-being due to affliction or misfortune)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Of very poor quality or condition
Example:
woeful errors of judgment
Synonyms:
deplorable; execrable; miserable; woeful; wretched
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
inferior (of low or inferior quality)
Derivation:
wretchedness (the quality of being poor and inferior and sorry)
Context examples:
This is a wretched beginning indeed!
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
They were in a wretched state, worn out and worn down.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Lord John Roxton expostulated on behalf of the wretched victims, and received nothing but threats and insults for his pains.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
What use was it for me, a wretched cripple, to go back to England or to make myself known to my old comrades?
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“Is that the royal palace?” cried the bear; “it is a wretched palace, and you are not King’s children, you are disreputable children!”
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
"What should they do without her? They were wretched comforters for one another."
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
It must be those wretched gipsies in the plantation.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then seizing the shaving glass, he went on: And this is the wretched thing that has done the mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
His wretched physical condition explained why he lingered; and when he had recuperated, after several days' sojourn, he disappeared.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
The man's stooped and narrow shoulders and weazened chest proclaimed him the true child of the crowded ghetto, and strong on Martin was the age-long struggle of the feeble, wretched slaves against the lordly handful of men who had ruled over them and would rule over them to the end of time.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
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