Wretched definitions

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WRETCHED, a.
1. Very miserable; sunk into deep affliction or distress, either from want, anxiety or grief.
The wretched find no friends.
2. Calamitous; very afflicting; as the wretched condition of slaves in Algiers.
3. Worthless; paltry; very poor or mean; as a wretched poem; a wretched cabin.
4. Despicable; hatefully vile and contemptible. He was guilty of wretched ingratitude.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of very poor quality or condition; "deplorable housing conditions in the inner city"; "woeful treatment of the accused"; "woeful errors of judgment" [syn: deplorable, execrable, miserable, woeful, wretched]
2: characterized by physical misery; "a wet miserable weekend"; "spent a wretched night on the floor" [syn: miserable, wretched]
3: very unhappy; full of misery; "he felt depressed and miserable"; "a message of hope for suffering humanity"; "wretched prisoners huddled in stinking cages" [syn: miserable, suffering, wretched]
4: morally reprehensible; "would do something as despicable as murder"; "ugly crimes"; "the vile development of slavery appalled them"; "a slimy little liar" [syn: despicable, ugly, vile, slimy, unworthy, worthless, wretched]
5: 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" [syn: hapless, miserable, misfortunate, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, poor, wretched]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, irregular from wretch Date: 12th century 1. deeply afflicted, dejected, or distressed in body or mind 2. extremely or deplorably bad or distressing <was in wretched health> <a wretched accident> 3. a. being or appearing mean, miserable, or contemptible <dressed in wretched old clothes> b. very poor in quality or ability ; inferior <wretched workmanship> • wretchedly adverb • wretchedness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (wretcheder, wretchedest) 1 unhappy or miserable. 2 of bad quality or no merit; contemptible. 3 unsatisfactory or displeasing. Phrases and idioms: feel wretched 1 be unwell. 2 be much embarrassed. Derivatives: wretchedly adv. wretchedness n. Etymology: ME, irreg. f. WRETCH + -ED(1): cf. WICKED

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wretched Wretch"ed, a. 1. Very miserable; sunk in, or accompanied by, deep affliction or distress, as from want, anxiety, or grief; calamitous; woeful; very afflicting. ``To what wretched state reserved!'' --Milton. O cruel! Death! to those you are more kind Than to the wretched mortals left behind. --Waller.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. You describe someone as wretched when you feel sorry for them because they are in an unpleasant situation or have suffered unpleasant experiences. (FORMAL) You have built up a huge property empire by buying from wretched people who had to sell or starve. ADJ 2. You use wretched to describe someone or something that you dislike or feel angry with. (INFORMAL) Wretched woman, he thought, why the hell can't she wait?... ADJ: ADJ n [feelings] 3. Someone who feels wretched feels very unhappy. (FORMAL) I feel really confused and wretched... = miserable ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Unhappy (on account of outward condition), forlorn, comfortless, woebegone, afflicted, distressed. See miserable. 2. Calamitous, afflictive, afflicting, deplorable, shocking, depressing, saddening, sad, sorrowful. 3. Bad, poor, vile, sorry, shabby, pitiful, worthless, paltry, contemptible, mean.

Moby Thesaurus

abject, abominable, adverse, affecting, afflicted, afflictive, antagonistic, arrant, atrocious, awful, base, beastly, beggarly, beneath contempt, bitter, blameworthy, bleak, brutal, cheap, cheerless, cheesy, comfortless, common, conflicting, contemptible, contrary, counter, counteractive, crummy, crushed, cut up, debased, deep-troubled, degraded, deplorable, depraved, depressing, depressive, desolate, despairing, despicable, despondent, detestable, detrimental, difficult, dire, dirty, discomforting, disconsolate, discontented, disgusting, dismal, dismaying, distressful, distressing, doleful, dolorific, dolorogenic, dolorous, dreadful, dreary, egregious, enormous, execrable, fetid, filthy, flagrant, forlorn, foul, fulsome, gaudy, gimcracky, grave, grievous, grim, gross, hard, harmful, hateful, heart-stricken, heart-struck, heartsick, heinous, hopeless, horrible, horrid, hostile, humorless, ignoble, in bad humor, in opposition, indolent, infamous, infestive, inimical, joyless, lamentable, little, loathsome, lousy, low, low-down, lumpen, mangy, mean, measly, melancholy, meretricious, mirthless, miserable, monstrous, mournful, moving, nasty, nefarious, noisome, not easy, notorious, obnoxious, odious, offensive, opposed, opposing, opposite, out of humor, out of sorts, outrageous, painful, paltry, pathetic, petty, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, pleasureless, poignant, poky, poor, rank, regrettable, reprehensible, reptilian, repulsive, rigorous, rotten, rubbishy, rueful, ruthful, sad, saddening, scabby, scandalous, schlock, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, scuzzy, servile, shabby, shameful, sharp, shocking, shoddy, sinister, slumlike, slummy, small, sordid, sore, sorrowful, sorry, sorryish, squalid, stressful, stricken, suicidal, terrible, too bad, touching, trashy, troublesome, troublous, trumpery, trying, two-for-a-cent, two-for-a-penny, twopenny, twopenny-halfpenny, uncheerful, uncheery, unclean, uncomfortable, unfavorable, unhappy, unjoyful, unmentionable, unmirthful, unsmiling, untoward, valueless, vile, villainous, woebegone, woeful, worst, worthless