- pity
- I(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)Feeling of compassion for anotherNouns — pity, compassion, commiseration, sympathy; lamentation, condolence; empathy, fellow-feeling, tenderness, humanity, mercy, clemency; leniency, charity, ruth, quarter, grace. See feeling.Verbs1. pity; have, give, show, or take pity; commiserate, condole, sympathize, empathize; feel for, be sorry for; weep, melt, thaw, forbear, relax, relent, give quarter; give the coup de grâce, put out of one's misery; have mercy, have a heart, have one's heart go out to; be charitable; be lenient.2. excite pity, touch, affect, soften; melt [the heart]; disarm; throw oneself at the feet of.Adjectives — pitying, piteous, pitiful, pitiable; compassionate, sympathetic, affected, touched; merciful, clement, ruthful; humane; humanitarian, philanthropic, tenderhearted, softhearted, lenient; melting, weak.Phrases — pity is akin to love.Quotations — Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door (William Blake), Pity is the virtue of the law (Shakespeare), One cannot weep for the entire world. It is beyond human strength. One must choose (Jean Anouilh), No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity (Shakespeare).II(Roget's IV) n.1. [Compassionate feeling]Syn. sympathy, compassion, charity, commiseration, condolence, softheartedness, tenderness, pathos, compunction, understanding, mercy, forbearance, ruth, warmheartedness, kindliness, fellow feeling, brotherly love, unselfishness, benevolence, favor, philanthropy, largeheartedness, clemency, humanity; see also kindness 1 .Ant. hatred*, severity, ferocity.2. [Anything that might move one to pity, sense 1]• have or [m1]• take pity on,Syn.- pity implies sorrow felt for another's suffering or misfortune, sometimes connoting slight contempt because the object is regarded as weak or inferior [ he felt pity for a man so ignorant ] ; compassion implies sorrow for another's sufferings or trouble accompanied by an urge to help or spare [ moved by compassion , they did not press for payment ] ; commiseration implies openly expressed feelings of pity or sympathetic sorrow [ she wept with her friend in commiseration] ; sympathy , in this connection, implies such kinship of feeling as enables one to really understand or even to share the sorrow, trouble, etc. of another [ a friend I can always turn to for sympathy] ; condolence now usually implies a formal expression of sympathy with another in deep sorrow [ a letter of condolence] v.1. [To feel pity for]Syn. feel sorry for, feel for, sympathize with, commiserate, be sorry for, condole, be sympathetic to, show sympathy, express sympathy for, feel with, bleed for, grieve with, weep for; see also comfort , sympathize .Ant. censure*, rebuke, become angry.2. [To be merciful to]Syn. spare, take pity on, show pity to, show forgiveness to, have mercy on, pardon, give quarter, put out of one's misery, reprieve, grant amnesty to; see also forgive 1 .Ant. destroy*, condemn, accuse.III(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)In.1. compassion mercy, feeling, sympathy, humanity, brotherly love, understanding, commiseration, tenderness, heart, ruth, softheartedness. ''The scavenger of misery.''—George Bernard Shaw.2. *crying shame shame, misfortune, crime, sorry situation, *bummer.ANT.: 1. mercilessness, coldness, cruelty, ruthlessness. 2. good fortune, congratulationIIv.feel sorry for, sympathize, feel compassion for, *bleed for, ache for, commiserate, grieve for, condole, have mercy on.IV(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. Sympathetic, sad concern for someone in misfortune: commiseration, compassion, condolence, empathy, sympathy. See PITY. 2. A great disappointment or regrettable fact: crime, shame. Slang: bummer. Idiom: a crying shame. See GOOD. II verb To experience or express compassion: ache, commiserate, compassionate, feel, sympathize, yearn. Idioms: be sorry, have (or take) pity. See PITY.
English dictionary for students. 2013.
