wretch

noun

ˈrech How to pronounce wretch (audio)
Definition of wretchnext
as in villain
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person the clerk was an ungrateful wretch who stole money from his employer's cash register

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 wretch The first time, Julian’s children (James Corden, Jessica Gunning) seemed like miserable, greedy wretches. — Brent Lang, Variety, 11 Apr. 2026 The elegant sets and lavish costume designs are stunning, as is Jacob Elordi's multi-faceted performance as the intelligent wretch stitched together from corpses. — Jeff Spry, Space.com, 27 Dec. 2025 Her expressions, her movements, her delivery — all of it makes Carol more complex than just a miserable wretch. — Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 3 Dec. 2025 Only Martin — cast as a Dickensian wretch by Bonitzer’s legion of myopic elites, but always quietly acting against type — reserves the right to determine his own worth. — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 29 Oct. 2025 As Blake transforms into a swollen, oozing wretch who gnaws frantically on his own wounds, his family appears as glowing-eyed aliens, their words a jumble of indecipherable sounds. — Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wretch
  1. villain
  2. brute
  3. monster
  4. savage
  5. devil
  6. criminal
  7. offender
  8. beast
Noun
  • Horowitz then brought up Skarsgard’s longtime interest in playing a villain in the James Bond franchise.
    — Lexi Carson, HollywoodReporter, 7 Nov. 2026
  • Much psychological research has focussed on the degradation of villains, but a symmetrical force works to elevate victims.
    — Paul Bloom, New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of villain
Noun
  • Most sportsmen wonder how any whitetail bucks, let alone a brute such as Kontras’, could have been so easily patterned.
    — Jeff Murray, Outdoor Life, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The show’s depiction of Hugh as a family man has been much more sympathetic than the book’s description of him as a power-hungry brute.
    — James Grebey, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of brute
Noun
  • The monster romance is as old as Pasiphaë tricking the white bull into bedding her, but a spate of recent offerings, across film and literature, especially, have come to form something less like a genre and more like a drug.
    — Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2026
  • The potential start of a monster buyback program in December is a promising catalyst.
    — Alexa LoMonaco,Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of monster
Noun
  • And mostly, the comedian known for his savage takedowns and viral beefs is keeping his cool.
    — Timothy Bella, HollywoodReporter, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Among the English-speaking settlers, the events at Lake George would be remembered as a massacre, and the Indigenous people whose home this was, whose conventions of war did not match those of the European empires, were called savages.
    — James Whorton Jr, Longreads, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of savage
Noun
  • The guitars shred our ears, the wall opens up, and a pair of monsters slinks into the room — a red devil, a hunchbacked demon with a black snout.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2026
  • In 1974 the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons first appeared, and later editions featured such character types as devils and demons.
    — Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of devil
Noun
  • The trailers were recovered by police nearby, presumably after the criminals cut the locks to reveal they were each loaded with 20,000 pounds of sand.
    — Nick Indge, ArsTechnica, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Without changing state law, criminals can continue to be sentenced to death in California.
    — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of criminal
Noun
  • Schneider says royal ferns are known for doing this in the garden, while Jose Lopez, owner and founder of Williams Landscaping Chicago, says ostrich ferns and lady ferns are other common offenders.
    — The Spruce, The Spruce, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Since taking office, the Governor has funded law enforcement at record levels and strengthened bail and discovery laws to hold all violent offenders accountable.
    — Kelsie Cairns , Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of offender
Noun
  • His weary voice, describing with sympathy what this solitary, hungry rover is going through, details a broken relationship between human and beast, but more keenly and traumatically, between humans and humans.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Willem Dafoe plays the landowner-hunter hired by the king to lead the charge against the beast.
    — Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of beast

Browse Nearby Words

wrests
wretch
wretched
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Wretch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wretch. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of wabi-sabi

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All