variants
or less commonly woful
1
: full of woe : grievous
woeful prophecies
2
: involving or bringing woe
3
: lamentably bad or serious : deplorable
woeful ignorance
Examples of woeful in a Sentence
The puppy had woeful eyes.
The student's grades were woeful.
Recent Examples on the Web
Baker, who had coached on the LSU staff in 2021, returned to Baton Rouge as D-coordinator last year and sparked significant improvement in a then-woeful unit.
—
Bruce Feldman, New York Times, 1 Dec. 2025
The Ravens had recovered from a 1-5 start to pull even with Pittsburgh atop the AFC North, but Baltimore didn't look all that impressive offensively in recent wins over Cleveland and the New York Jets, and that continued against a woeful Cincinnati defense.
—CBS News, 28 Nov. 2025
Grocholski scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half to help the Gophers rebound from a woeful first half.
—Pioneer Press, Twin Cities, 27 Nov. 2025
From Weeks 13 to 16, all four matchups are against teams in the bottom 10 of the league at preventing fantasy points to tight ends, including two games against the woeful Bengals.
—Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for woeful
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Bruce Feldman, New York Times, 1 Dec. 2025
The Ravens had recovered from a 1-5 start to pull even with Pittsburgh atop the AFC North, but Baltimore didn't look all that impressive offensively in recent wins over Cleveland and the New York Jets, and that continued against a woeful Cincinnati defense.
—CBS News, 28 Nov. 2025
Grocholski scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half to help the Gophers rebound from a woeful first half.
—Pioneer Press, Twin Cities, 27 Nov. 2025
From Weeks 13 to 16, all four matchups are against teams in the bottom 10 of the league at preventing fantasy points to tight ends, including two games against the woeful Bengals.
—Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for woeful
Cite this Entry
“Woeful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/woeful. Accessed 4 Dec. 2025.
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