Related Searches
Nearby Words
Related Questions
| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | in bad shape; poor |
| Synonyms: | abject, affecting, afflicted, arousing, base, beggarly, cheap, cheerless, comfortless, commiserative, compassionate, contemptible, deplorable, despicable, dismal, distressed, distressing, grievous, heartbreaking, heartrending, inadequate, insignificant, joyless, lamentable, low, mean, miserable, mournful, moving, paltry, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, sad, scurvy, shabby, sorrowful, sorry, stirring, suffering, tearful, touching, vile, woeful, worthless, wretched |
| Notes: | piteous is generally not used when speaking of people, pitiable means 'able to be pitied,' and pitiful most often means 'insignificant; below contempt' |
| Antonyms: | excellent, happy, superb, superior, wonderful, worthwhile |
| Main Entry: | contemptible |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | despicable, shameful |
| Synonyms: | abhorrent, abject, abominable, bad, base, beggarly, cheap, crass, currish, degenerate, despisable, detestable, dirty, disgusting, hateful, heel, ignoble, ignominious, inferior, low, low-down, lowest, mean, odious, outcast, paltry, pitiable, pitiful, poor, sad, scummy, scurvy, shabby, sordid, sorry*, swinish, unworthy, vile, worthless, wretched |
| Notes: | contemptible means deserving contempt, while contemptuous means bestowing contempt; the first sense of contemptuous was 'despising law and order' |
| Antonyms: | admirable, admired, good, honorable, loved, respectable, worthy |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | despicable |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hateful; beyond contempt |
| Synonyms: | abject, awful, base, beastly, cheap, contemptible, degrading, detestable, dirty, disgraceful, disreputable, down, ignominious, infamous, insignificant, loathsome, low, low-life, mean, no-good, pitiful, reprehensible, shameful, slimy*, sordid, vile, worthless, wretched |
| Antonyms: | desirous, honorable, likeable, loveable, respectable, virtuous, worthy |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | doleful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | depressing |
| Synonyms: | afflicted, cast down, cheerless, crestfallen, dejected, depressed, dirgeful, dismal, dispirited, distressing, dolent, dolorous, down, down in the mouth, downcast, downhearted, dreary, forlorn, funereal, gloomy, grieving, lamentable, lugubrious, melancholy, mournful, painful, piteous, pitiful, plaintive, rueful, sad, somber, sorrowful, woebegone, woeful, wretched |
| Antonyms: | cheerful, elated, glad, gleeful, happy, joyful |
| Main Entry: | forlorn |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hopeless, inconsolable |
| Synonyms: | abandoned, alone, bereft, blue*, cheerless, comfortless, cynical, defenseless, depressed, deserted, desolate, despairing, desperate, despondent, destitute, destroyed, disconsolate, down and out, dragging, forgotten, forsaken, friendless, fruitless, futile, godforsaken, helpless, homeless, in the dumps, lonely, lonesome, lost, miserable, oppressed, pathetic, pessimistic, pitiable, pitiful, solitary, tragic, unhappy, vain, weighed down, woebegone, wretched |
| Notes: | lonely adds to solitary a suggestion of longing for companionship, while lonesome heightens the suggestion of sadness; forlorn and desolate are even more isolated and sad |
| Antonyms: | cheerful, comforted, consolable, happy, hopeful, joyful, pleased |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | grievous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | severe, painful; serious |
| Synonyms: | afflicting, agonizing, appalling, atrocious, calamitous, damaging, deplorable, dire, dismal, disquieting, distressing, disturbing, dreadful, egregious, flagrant, glaring, grave, harmful, heart-rending, heavy*, heinous, hurtful, injurious, intolerable, lamentable, monstrous, mournful, offensive, onerous, oppressive, outrageous, pathetic, pitiful, sad, shameful, sharp, shocking, sorrowful, taxing, tough, tragic, troublesome, unbearable, upsetting, villainous, weighty, wounding |
| Antonyms: | good, harmless, pleasant |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | heartbreaking |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | disappointing |
| Synonyms: | affecting, afflictive, agonizing, bitter, calamitous, cheerless, deplorable, dire, distressing, grievous, heart-rending, joyless, lamentable, moving, pitiful, poignant, regrettable, sad, touching, tragic, unfortunate |
| Antonyms: | exhilarating, heartwarming, joyous, wonderful |
| Main Entry: | heartrending |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | arousing deep sympathy |
| Synonyms: | agonizing, distressing, doleful, excruciating, harrowing, heartbreaking, heartsickening, moving, piteous, pitiful, sad, tear-jerking, touching, tragic |
| Main Entry: | humble |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | poor, inferior |
| Synonyms: | base, beggarly, common, commonplace, contemptible, humdrum, ignoble, inglorious, insignificant, little, low, low-born, low-ranking, lowly, meager, mean, measly, menial, miserable, modest, obscure, ordinary, paltry, petty, pitiful, plebeian, proletarian, puny, rough, scrubby, seemly, servile, severe, shabby, simple, small, sordid, trivial, unassuming, uncouth, underprivileged, undistinguished, unfit, unimportant, unpretentious, unrefined, vulgar, wretched |
| Antonyms: | luxurious, rich, superior |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
