different between dreadful vs deplorable

English

Alternative forms

• dreadfull
• dredful (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d??d.f?l/

Etymology

From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful), equivalent to dread +? -ful.

Adjective

dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)

1. Full of something causing dread, whether
   1. Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky.
      • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 23:

        "...Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning..."

   2. (hyperbolic) Unpleasant, awful, very bad (also used as an intensifier).
      • 1682, T. Creech's translation of Lucretius, De Natura Rerum, Book II, 52:

        Here some... Look dreadful gay in their own sparkling blood.
   3. (obsolete) Awesome, awe-inspiring, causing feelings of reverence.
2. (obsolete) Full of dread, whether
   1. Scared, afraid, frightened.
   2. Timid, easily frightened.
   3. Reverential, full of pious awe.

Adverb

dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)

1. (informal) Dreadfully.

Usage notes

The senses of "dreadful" synonymous with "afraid" similarly use the infinitive or the preposition "of": they were dreadful to build or the boy was dreadful of his majesty. These senses are, however, now obsolete.

When used as an intensifier, "dreadful" is actually a form of the adverb "dreadfully" and thus considered informal or vulgar.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:frightening
• See Thesaurus:bad

Derived terms

• dreadfully
• dreadfulness

Translations

Noun

dreadful (plural dreadfuls)

1. A shocker: a report of a crime written in a provokingly lurid style.
2. A journal or broadsheet printing such reports.
3. A shocking or sensational crime.

Derived terms

• penny dreadful

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French déplorable, from Late Latin d?pl?r?bilis., from d?- +? pl?r? +? -bilis.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??pl????b??/

Adjective

deplorable (comparative more deplorable, superlative most deplorable)

1. Deserving strong condemnation; shockingly bad, wretched.
2. To be felt sorrow for; worthy of compassion; lamentable.
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, The life and adventures of Robinson Crusoe

     There was a youth and his mother, and a maidservant on board, who were going passengers, and thinking the ship was ready to sail, unhappily came on board the evening before the hurricane began; and having no provisions of their own left, they were in a more deplorable condition than the rest.

   • 1840, Public Documents of the State of Maine, "Report Relating to the Insane Hospital", Committee on Public Buildings

     If, however, the early symptoms of insanity be neglected till the brain becomes accustomed to the irregular actions of disease, or till organic changes take place from the early violence of those actions, then the case becomes hopeless of cure. In this situation, in too many cases, the victim of this deplorable malady is cast off by his friends, thrust into a dungeon or in chains, there to remain till the shattered intellect shall exhaust all its remaining energies in perpetual raving and violence, till it sinks into hopeless and deplorable idiocy.

Synonyms

• pathetic

Translations

Noun

deplorable (plural deplorables)

1. A person or thing that is to be deplored.
   • 1970, Esquire (volume 74)

     […] heralding, this season, an end of the most awful of all apparel abominations, that most despicable of all deplorables, the ankle sock.

2. (neologism, US politics) A Trumpist conservative, in reference to a 2016 speech by Hillary Clinton calling half of Donald Trump's supporters a "basket of deplorables".

Further reading

• deplorable at OneLook Dictionary Search
• deplorable in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Middle French

Etymology

Late 15th century, borrowed from Latin d?pl?r?bilis.

Adjective

deplorable m or f (plural deplorables)

1. deplorable (worthy of compassion)

Spanish

Etymology

From Late Latin d?pl?r?bilis, equivalent to deplorar +? -able.

Adjective

deplorable (plural deplorables)

1. deplorable