Pity
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈpɪti/
- Rhymes: -ɪti
Alternative forms
- pitty obsolete
Origin
From Anglo-Norman pité, pittee etc., from Old French pitet, pitié, from Latin pietÄs.
Full definition of pity
Noun
pity
(countable and uncountable; plural pitys)- (uncountable) A feeling of sympathy at the misfortune or suffering of someone or something.
- Bible, Proverbs xix. 17He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.
- ShakespeareHe ... has no more pity in him than a dog.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Folio Society 2006, p. 5:The most usuall way to appease those minds we have offended ... is, by submission to move them to commiseration and pitty.
- (countable) Something regrettable.It's a pity you're feeling unwell because there's a party on tonight.
- Laurence SterneIt was a thousand pities.
- AddisonWhat pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country! - (obsolete) piety
Verb
- (transitive) To feel pity for (someone or something). from 15th c.
- Bible, Psalms ciii. 13Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
- (transitive, now regional) To make (someone) feel pity; to provoke the sympathy or compassion of. from 16th c.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.11:She lenger yet is like captiv'd to bee;
That even to thinke thereof it inly pitties mee. - Book of Common PrayerIt pitieth them to see her in the dust.
Interjection
- Short form of what a pity.