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wretched

wretc·hed

UK/ˈɹɛt͡ʃɪd/ US/ˈɹɛt͡ʃəd/ fairly common informal

adjective

1.

of very poor quality or condition

  • “deplorable housing conditions in the inner city”
  • “woeful treatment of the accused”
  • “woeful errors of judgment”
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2.

characterized by physical misery

  • “a wet miserable weekend”
  • “spent a wretched night on the floor”
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3.

very unhappy; full of misery

  • “he felt depressed and miserable”
  • “a message of hope for suffering humanity”
  • “wretched prisoners huddled in stinking cages”
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4.

deserving or inciting pity

  • “a hapless victim”
  • “miserable victims of war”
  • “the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic” Galsworthy
  • “piteous appeals for help”
  • “pitiable homeless children”
  • “a pitiful fate”
  • “Oh, you poor thing”
  • “his poor distorted limbs”
  • “a wretched life”
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Origin

From Middle English wrecched (“(adjective) characterized by or suffering hardship or misfortune, miserable, unfortunate, unhappy; indigent, poor; of low economic or social status, lowly; (noun) miserable person”) [and other forms], from wrecche (“characterized by or suffering hardship or misfortune, miserable, unfortunate, unhappy; indigent, poor; of low economic or social status, lowly; base, contemptible, vile; reprehensible, wicked; miserly, stingy; of little importance, paltry, worthless”) (from Late Old English wrecc, from Old English wreċċa (“an exile, outcast”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“to follow, track; to hunt”)) + -ed (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as wretch (“(obsolete) wretched”, adjective) + -ed (suffix forming adjectives).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.