Pity

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pity \Pit"y\, n.; pl. {Pities}. [OE. pite, OF. pit['e],
     piti['e], F. piti['e], L. pietas piety, kindness, pity. See
     {Pious}, and cf. {Piety}.]
     1. Piety. [Obs.] --Wyclif.
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     2. A feeling for the sufferings or distresses of another or
        others; sympathy with the grief or misery of another;
        compassion; fellow-feeling; commiseration.
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              He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the
              Lord.                                 --Prov. xix.
                                                    17.
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              He . . . has no more pity in him than a dog. --Shak.
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     3. A reason or cause of pity, grief, or regret; a thing to be
        regretted. "The more the pity." --Shak.
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              What pity is it
              That we can die but once to serve our country!
                                                    --Addison.
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     Note: In this sense, sometimes used in the plural, especially
           in the colloquialism: "It is a thousand pities."
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     Syn: Compassion; mercy; commiseration; condolence; sympathy,
          fellow-suffering; fellow-feeling. -- {Pity}, {Sympathy},
          {Compassion}. Sympathy is literally fellow-feeling, and
          therefore requiers a certain degree of equality in
          situation, circumstances, etc., to its fullest exercise.
          Compassion is deep tenderness for another under severe
          or inevitable misfortune. Pity regards its object not
          only as suffering, but weak, and hence as inferior.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pity \Pit"y\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pitied}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Pitying}.]
     1. To feel pity or compassion for; to have sympathy with; to
        compassionate; to commiserate; to have tender feelings
        toward (any one), awakened by a knowledge of suffering.
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              Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord
              pitieth them that fear him.           --Ps. ciii.
                                                    13.
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     2. To move to pity; -- used impersonally. [Obs.]
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              It pitieth them to see her in the dust. --Bk. of
                                                    Com. Prayer.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pity \Pit"y\, v. i.
     To be compassionate; to show pity.
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           I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy. --Jer.
                                                    xiii. 14.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pity
       n 1: a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of
            others; "the blind are too often objects of pity" [syn:
            {commiseration}, {ruth}, {pathos}]
       2: an unfortunate development; "it's a pity he couldn't do it"
          [syn: {shame}]
       3: the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others
          and wanting to do something about it [syn: {compassion}]
       v : share the suffering of [syn: {feel for}, {compassionate}, {condole
           with}, {sympathize with}]
       [also: {pitied}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  65 Moby Thesaurus words for "pity":
     abomination, acceptance, ache, atrocity, be sorry for, bleed,
     bleed for, chanty, clemency, clementness, commiserate,
     commiseration, compassion, compassionate, condole with, condolence,
     crime, dejection, desecration, disgrace, distress, easiness,
     easygoingness, feel, feel for, feel sorrow for, feel sorry for,
     forbearance, forbearing, gentleness, humaneness, humanity,
     ignominy, infamy, lament for, laxness, lenience, leniency,
     lenientness, lenity, melancholy, mercifulness, mercy, mildness,
     misfortune, moderateness, patience, profanation, rue, ruth,
     sacrilege, sadness, scandal, shame, sin, softness, sorrow,
     sympathize, sympathize with, sympathy, tenderness, terrible thing,
     tolerance, violation, weep for
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  PITY, n.  A failing sense of exemption, inspired by contrast.