different between pitiful vs sordid

English

Alternative forms

• pitifull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English pityful, piteful, piteeful, equivalent to pity +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?t.?.fl?/

Adjective

pitiful (comparative pitifuller, superlative pitifullest)

1. (now rare) Feeling pity; merciful.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     Straightway, he now goes on to make a full confession; whereupon the mariners became more and more appalled, but still are pitiful.

2. So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lamentable

3. Of an amount or number: very small.

Related terms

• pitiable
• pity

Translations

Adverb

pitiful (comparative more pitiful, superlative most pitiful)

1. (colloquial, dialect) In a pitiful manner; pitifully; piteously; pathetically.

Translations

English

Etymology

Latin sordidus, from sord?re (“be dirty”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??.d?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s??d?d/
• Homophone: sorted (in some varieties)

Adjective

sordid (comparative sordider, superlative sordidest)

1. Distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible.
2. Dirty or squalid.
3. Morally degrading.
   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

     He rode slowly home along the deserted road, watching the stars come out in the clear violet sky. They flashed softly into the limpid heavens, like jewels let fall into clear water. They were a reproach, he felt, to a sordid world.

   • 1994, The Lion King, Be Prepared musical number:

     I know it sounds sordid but you'll be rewarded, when at last I've been given my dues.

   • 2006, John C. Roberts, concurrence and dissent in part in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006)

     It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.

4. Grasping; stingy; avaricious.
5. Of a dull colour.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:greedy, Thesaurus:unclean

Derived terms

• sordidity
• sordidly
• sordidness

Translations

Anagrams

• 'droids, disord, dorids, droids

Estonian

Noun

sordid

1. nominative plural of sort

Romanian

Etymology

From French sordide, from Latin sordidus.

Adjective

sordid m or n (feminine singular sordid?, masculine plural sordizi, feminine and neuter plural sordide)

1. sordid

Declension