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wretchedness

noun

Definition of wretchednessnext
1
as in misery

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Dissimilar Words
2
as in baseness

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Dissimilar Words

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 wretchedness As our cantankerous lead, Molina harumphs lovably from scene to scene, conveying both his character’s indomitable will and the wretchedness of his grief. — Graham Hillard, The Washington Examiner, 31 May 2026 Director Penny Lane interviews jazz critics who howl at his wretchedness, then balances it with fans who simply don’t care. — Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wretchedness
  1. misery
  2. baseness
  3. destitution
  4. meanness
  5. poverty
  6. miserableness
  7. woe
  8. criminality
Noun
  • Illinoisans should demand state investments that serve struggling communities, instead of needlessly expanding the misery of our prison system.
    — Joan Steffen, Chicago Tribune, 7 Sep. 2026
  • At one point, a man placed a hand on Bibendum’s shoulder and led him offstage, as if to be put out of his misery.
    — Ruby Tandoh, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of misery
Noun
  • The horror has come now like a storm— what if this night prefigured the night after death— what if all thereafter was an eternal quivering on the edge of an abyss, with everything base and vicious in oneself urging one forward and the baseness and viciousness of the world just ahead.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Mar. 2026
Definition of baseness
Noun
  • Becoming a YouTuber had seemed like a way for Chism to stop sliding toward destitution.
    — Jeremy Gordon, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2026
  • The story exemplifies Bandyopadhyay’s method of locating the partition’s violence beyond the riots, in the economic destitution that followed and what that destitution exacted from women.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 July 2026
Definition of destitution
Noun
  • The Very Online meanness, and attendant allegations of sexism and élitism, carries echoes of the rift between the Clintonites and the Bernie Bros; El-Sayed has talked openly of using a victory to shape the 2028 Presidential field.
    — Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026
  • Sometimes the irony turns bitter and, with a typically Eastern European sensibility, highlights the paradoxes of institutions, as well as the madness and meanness born from the pursuit and preservation of power.
    — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 8 June 2026
Definition of meanness
Noun
  • Over the four decades to 2020, China lifted the vast bulk of its population out of poverty, and in 2021 leader Xi Jinping declared that extreme poverty had been eliminated.
    — Sylvie Zhuang, CNN Money, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Bolsa Familia was the subject of thousands of academic studies in Brazil and abroad, which reported significant reductions in poverty, inequality and infant mortality.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of poverty
Noun
  • Luke and Kristen squabble for the entirety of the trip, which only adds to its miserableness.
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 18 June 2026
Definition of miserableness
Noun
  • Becoming ‘America’s Mayor’ After the attacks, Giuliani’s personal woes took a back seat as a grieving city looked for guidance.
    — Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Around the same time as the statement, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian similarly acknowledged his country’s economic woes.
    — Jason Ma, Fortune, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of woe
Noun
  • Europol does not keep statistics on nihilistic violent extremism because definitions of it differ and acts can fall into the category of ordinary criminality as well as terrorism.
    — Lorne Cook, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2026
  • What about how police agencies understand criminality and risk can only be put on the table and frankly stated behind closed doors?
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of criminality

Browse Nearby Words

wretchedly
wretchedness
wretches
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Cite this Entry

“Wretchedness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wretchedness. Accessed 19 Sep. 2026.

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