as in brutes
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
the clerk was an ungrateful wretch who stole money from his employer's cash register
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Recent Examples of wretches
The first time, Julian’s children (James Corden, Jessica Gunning) seemed like miserable, greedy wretches.
—
Brent Lang, Variety, 11 Apr. 2026
Brent Lang, Variety, 11 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wretches
Noun
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That’s happened in several Mid Atlantic rivers, but in the absence of larger brutes like blues and flathead, channels will thrive and can break the 15-pound mark.—
Joe Cermele,
Outdoor Life,
9 Apr. 2026
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In Raspail’s tale, hordes of impoverished and dark-skinned brutes from India descend onto French shores by way of rafts, the first wave of an invasion of the civilized West by the brown-skinned developing world.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Design There’s a reason James Bond villains chase 007’s Aston Martin in fleets of black Defenders.—
John Scott Lewinski,
Robb Report,
8 Apr. 2026
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In the two-parter, which airs April 14 (8PM – 10 PM), the series’ central character, Amy (Molly Parker) will risk her life for one of the series’ main villains, Richard (Scott Wolf), who had killed a patient, tried to cover it up and blamed it on Amy, almost ending her career.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
7 Apr. 2026
Noun
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This notion was based on outdated presumptions of hillforts as being occupied by violent, prehistoric savages.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
10 Apr. 2026
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Or Irish, in a time when they were seen as savages by the Englishmen?—
Arushi Jacob,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Daniel Bernhardt is Deathstalker, a legendary swordsman stuck with a cursed amulet who befriends swamp monsters and teams with a mini wizard (voiced by Patton Oswalt) to stop a dark magic from ruling the land.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
10 Apr. 2026
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Both were monsters on the boards and couldn’t be stopped at times inside.—
Kels Dayton,
Hartford Courant,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Other propaganda compared Native people to buffalo, cats, dogs, and devils.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 Mar. 2026
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There are sounds and shadows in the forest; the Devil, or devils, may be walking the earth.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The scheme is designed to identify suspected criminals, combat identity fraud, and to police the EU's limit on 90-day stays within a 180-day period, according to the European Commission.—
Emma Clarke,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Apr. 2026
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Rex Heuermann, the man known as the Gilgo Beach killer, admitted to killing eight women over a span of decades, and the FBI is now looking into what motivated the 62-year-old to carry out his crimes to help capture other criminals in the future.—
Matt Lavietes,
NBC news,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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He was convicted in 2019 at age 13 of assaulting another child at school with a hockey stick and placed under supervision of a local service for youth offenders.—
Brian Melley,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Apr. 2026
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He was convicted in 2019, aged 13, of assaulting another child at school with a hockey stick and placed under supervision of a local service for youth offenders.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
13 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Wretches.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wretches. Accessed 15 Apr. 2026.
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