pitifulnessn.

1555 Uniforme & Catholyke Prymer sig. y.ii I commende and betake my handes to thy holynesse, besechynge thy pitiefulnes.

1593 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia ii. 172 Basilius giuing the infinite tearmes of praises to Zelmanes both valour in conquering, and pittifulnesse in pardoning, commanded no more wordes to be made of it.

1662 Bk. Common Prayer Prayers Several Occasions Let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us.

1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 32 They would..soon discern..the pittifulness of their matter, and the impertinency of their Tales and Phansies.

1702 C. Mather Magnalia Christi iii. iii. i. 181/2 That Pittifulness and that Peaceableness, which render'd him yet further Amiable.

1720 D. Manley Power of Love iii. 204 She sent for her Sons, reproaching them with the Pitifulness of their Spirit, to take Employment from the Man they should much sooner destroy.

1884 W. S. Lilly in Contemp. Rev. Feb. 264 Christianity, preaching pitifulness and courtesy.

1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. IV. 597 Scrofula:..its frequency, its pitifulness, and its marring of fair young lives.

1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage lxxxv. 447 The pitifulness of that divine vagabond in those hopelessly middle-class surroundings.

1999 Washington Post (Nexis) 6 June 12 In a long sermon, he harps on the pitifulness of human egotism and aspiration.