Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The state or condition of a suffering wretch; a wretched or distressful state of being; great misery or affliction.
- n. Wretched character or quality; distressing, reprehensible, or despicable nature; aggravated or aggravating badness of any kind.
- n. That which is wretched or distressingly bad; wretched material, conduct, or the like; anything contemptible or despicable; wretched stuff.
- n. =Syn.1. Affliction, Grief, Sorrow, etc. See affliction.
Wiktionary
- n. An unhappy state of mental or physical suffering.
- n. A state of prolonged misfortune, privation, or anguish.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The quality or state of being wretched; utter misery.
- n. obsolete A wretched object; anything despicably.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the quality of being poor and inferior and sorry
- n. a state of ill-being due to affliction or misfortune
- n. the character of being uncomfortable and unpleasant
Etymologies
- wretched + -ness (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Cursed, cursed be the fiend that brought misery on his grey hairs, and doomed him to waste in wretchedness!”
“They try so hard to please their parents and even harder to understand them, and their resulting wretchedness is one of the most haunting subplots of the novel.”
“What was it specially that he called wretchedness?”
“I shall not close this, till I have seen or heard from the vile miscreant who has involved a worthy family in wretchedness!”
The Coquette, or, The History of Eliza Wharton: A Novel Founded on Fact
“It is of course self-evident that poverty should not degenerate into wretchedness, which is no less an abundant source of moral dangers than is excessive wealth.”
“How many old labourers, old operatives, or miners are now left to recall the wretchedness of that toiling and starving childhood before the corn-tax was removed?”
“By such an estimate, nearly the whole number are accounted for by wretchedness, that is by economic causes, alone”
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 Sex in Relation to Society
“My first knowledge of their wretchedness was a thing which sank deep.”
“Nor will their wretchedness, which is the work of their own hands, disturb our peace or mar our happiness.”
“Alas! alas! that in all my misery the only woman who sympathises with my wretchedness is the woman I have injured.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘wretchedness’.
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Sorrow is better than laughter; for b...
lachrymose, sorrow, melancholic, wail, mournful, sob, misery, wretchedness, anguish, agony, heartbreak, lament and 38 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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Monovocalics
Words that have only one of the vowels. On this list I include only words with at least three vowels. When I first started the list, if a word had several forms, I generally listed only the one wit...
syzygy, mirific, cumulus, homolog, monocot, bedewed, jezebel, referee, bikini, minikin, locomotor, terebenthene and 2359 more...
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simple & useful 14
fabrication, parapet, transverse, erecting, dimpled, blistering, epoxy, scrubbable, immersion, puttying, sandpapered, stippled and 65 more...
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