pity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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“I’m embarrassed for her. And that sounds like pity, and I don’t mean it in a pitiful way,” she said.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026
But the praise and pity produced resentment among many Americans who did not want an admissions system that elevated foreigners to a higher pedestal.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
Asked about US special envoy Steve Witkoff recently telling Putin he was a humanitarian, she called the comment "nonsense" and "a pity".
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
"When I close my eyes I can still see it, the pity on other passengers' faces. It was humiliating for her."
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
I can tell she feels pity for me and blames herself for not having been a better mother and stopped me from being so rebellious.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
What If they knew the panoply of pities we can name—pities for them, for ourselves?
From Scientific American ● Sep. 23, 2023
On days when my anxiety is raging, I picture myself as an old woman whom everyone pities, sitting all alone at my niece’s wedding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2021
She pities the park rangers who have to quote it on tours of Ford’s Theatre.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 13, 2021
Allie pities “poor Condi, who seemed to have spent a lifetime offering graciousness as a kind of microwaved substitute for actual warmth.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 11, 2019
There is a sad look in her eyes, like she pities me.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
Véra resents being pitied, while Agathe cannot bear to confront her feelings of guilt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026
His fans rolled with his excesses and pitied his life tragedies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2025
The chimney sweep comforts the kids by showing why their father should not be feared, but pitied.
From Slate ● Apr. 27, 2025
The mayor grew up in a building so decrepit — filthy hallways, no private toilets, no showers — that his friends in nearby concrete towers pitied him.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
It was one thing to be ridiculed by my classmates, another to be pitied by a teacher.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
She added: "I look at myself back then and I feel sorry for myself. And not in a bad or pitying way, I just feel like it wasn't very fair."
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026
The town moves from pitying her to whispering that she’s crazy, leaving her rutted in the anger stage of the grieving process.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2026
Josh: In our quest to become better recyclers, Melissa, I found myself pitying the ephemeral life of a pizza box.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
“I was simply a person who had nothing to share, nothing worth sharing,” she remembers, pitying her “big pink teacher” for not understanding.
From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2022
I sing in the children’s choir because Big Ma makes sure we motherless girls enjoy all the pitying looks the church can spare, whether we want them or not.
From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Vocabulary lists containing pity
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
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"Fine?" Vocabulary from the short story
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"The People Could Fly," Vocabulary from the folk tale
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