Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of piteous An old woman and an old man, innocent as lambs, clambering over rubble with their piteous backpacks and bundles. David Bezmozgis, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2025 Subjects set up as snakes in the grass are given piteous endings. Ben Travers, IndieWire, 20 Feb. 2025 The word integral seemed to me particularly poignant, piteous. Joyce Carol Oates, Harper's Magazine, 10 July 2023 Later, Ivy interrogates Felix about having strayed dangerously from the straight-and-narrow, a confrontation that is agonizing to watch, as Mr. Torres’s performance gains in both piteous despair and angry ferocity. Charles Isherwood, WSJ, 17 Nov. 2022 Because the Grammys telecast draws generations of viewers, and because Grammy voters are drawn from a wide pool that skews older, what emerges on the show, and in the awards themselves, is a kind of piteous compromise that holds real innovation at bay. New York Times, 4 Apr. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for piteous
Adjective
  • The Browns have scored the second-fewest points in the NFL, ahead of only the pitiful Tennessee Titans.
    Jason Lloyd, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2025
  • On the side of the highway, Wilson cuts a pitiful, solitary figure.
    Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • And Craig Waterman, the marketing executive from the 2024 film Friendship, took Robinson into new territory with a darker and more pathetic take on the same neurotic type.
    Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 13 Oct. 2025
  • In his brightest moments, Mike is boyishly gentle, a little wacky, and modestly proud — all in ways that Dillane manages to make feel both pathetic and delightful.
    Beatrice Loayza, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Porter has been a lead creator before, but that was on cellar-dwelling Houston Rockets squads that became a breeding ground for poor habits.
    Fred Katz, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Young people want better governance and are fed up with suffering from poor services and economies while their leaders get rich around them and inequality grows.
    Elizabeth Shackelford, Twin Cities, 16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • When the din inside Rams Park had finally subsided, Arne Slot attempted to put a positive spin on a wretched night for Liverpool.
    James Pearce, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Yes, Baltimore’s defense is wretched, so don’t count on this being a cure-all, exactly.
    Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Boise State generally made life miserable for Layne, the Idaho Vandals transfer who followed his coach, Jason Eck, from Moscow to Albuquerque.
    Jim Keyser, Idaho Statesman, 12 Oct. 2025
  • Brandon Marsh, who produced after a miserable April, looks more like a strong-side platoon corner outfielder than an everyday center fielder.
    Matt Gelb, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Piteous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/piteous. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.

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