Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Pity
Pit′y
,Noun.
pl.
Pities
(#)
. 1.
Piety.
[Obs.]
Wyclif.
2.
A feeling for the sufferings or distresses of another or others; sympathy with the grief or misery of another; compassion; fellow-feeling; commiseration.
He that hath
pity
upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord. Prov. xix. 17.
He . . . has no more
pity
in him than a dog. Shakespeare
3.
A reason or cause of pity, grief, or regret; a thing to be regretted.
“The more the pity.” Shak.
What
That we can die but once to serve our country!
pity
is itThat we can die but once to serve our country!
Addison.
☞ In this sense, sometimes used in the plural, especially in the colloquialism: “It is a thousand pities.”
Syn. – Compassion; mercy; commiseration; condolence; sympathy, fellow-suffering; fellow-feeling. –
Pity
, Sympathy
, Compassion
. Sympathy is literally fellow-feeling, and therefore requiers a certain degree of equality in situation, circumstances, etc., to its fullest exercise. Compassion is deep tenderness for another under severe or inevitable misfortune. Pity regards its object not only as suffering, but weak, and hence as inferior. Pit′y
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pitied
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Pitying
.] 1.
To feel pity or compassion for; to have sympathy with; to compassionate; to commiserate; to have tender feelings toward (any one), awakened by a knowledge of suffering.
Like as a father
pitieth
his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him. Ps. ciii. 13.
2.
To move to pity; – used impersonally.
[Obs.]
It
pitieth
them to see her in the dust. Bk. of Com. Prayer.
Pit′y
,Verb.
I.
To be compassionate; to show pity.
I will not
pity
, nor spare, nor have mercy. Jer. xiii. 14.
Webster 1828 Edition
Pity
PITY
,Noun.
1.
The feeling or suffering of one person, excited by the distresses of another; sympathy with the grief or misery of another; compassion or fellow-suffering. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord. Prov.19.
In Scripture however, the word pity usually includes
compassion accompanied with some act of charity or benevolence, and not simply a fellow feeling of distress.
Pity is always painful, yet always agreeable.
2.
The ground or subject of pity; cause of grief; thing to be regretted. What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!
That he is old, the more is the pity, his white hairs do witness it.
In this sense, the word has a plural. It is a thousand pities he should waste his estate in prodigality.