half-pitying

Screenwriter, I said, and his tacit, half-pitying, half-amused how many times has he heard this before? nod.

Hollywood Savage

He had been a soldier half his life, he knew the discomforts, the injustices, he knew the half-pitying glances of men whose business let them sleep safe at night, but they did not know this.

Sharpe's Eagle

But all he got so far was mute shaking of heads and glances half-pitying, half-relieved.

One Corpse Too Many

He went swiftly over t'u Hayem's background, and a wry, half-pitying grin twisted his mouth.

The Long Way Home

"We promise," said La Salle, encouragingly, while Kennedy gave a half-pitying nod of the head.

Adrift in the Ice-Fields

Then the chaos subsided and the old woman looked out defiantly at the major and at the half-amused, half-pitying soldier boys.

Ruth Fielding at the War Front or, The Hunt for the Lost Soldier

Then he said, slowly, in a tone of half-pitying contempt:

Marie Gourdon A Romance of the Lower St. Lawrence

He seemed content to put his finger on the weak spot in any system without troubling to point out a remedy; and to Owen, whose eager mind was ever ready to remedy abuses, this attitude of half-pitying, half-amused toleration was vaguely irritating.

The Making of a Soul

They are not intended 'virginibus puerisque', and the author's attitude is that of a half-pitying, half-contemptuous moralist, yet the virility of his criticism has brought him immortality.

The French Immortals Series — Complete

People couldn't help feeling affection for him, considerably leavened by a half-pitying, half-wondering appreciation of his character.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 28, February, 1860