Definition of wretched in English:

wretched

adjectivewretchedest, wretcheder ˈrɛtʃɪdˈrɛtʃəd

1(of a person) in a very unhappy or unfortunate state.
I felt so wretched because I thought I might never see you again
Example sentencesExamples
- The poor wretched beast was tied up on a rope that was too short to let him lie down.
- Pentheus tore away his headband from his hair, and ripped the feminine disguise from his frame that his wretched mother might recognize him!
- He begs for food and wears only a loincloth and a cloak, shunning the townspeople and becoming a wretched figure with unkempt hair and long fingernails.
- A fanatic easily makes conquests among a wretched people.
- The role of A Vijayaraghavan, MP, was significant in securing Indian citizenship for these wretched people.
- Her eyes had widened considerably upon taking in the sight the wretched man, and she feared she might be sick from looking at his numerous injuries.
- Although they were all being tenderly cared for by wonderful nurses, with plenty of personal attention and attempts to comfort and stimulate them, they were absolutely wretched.
- I have also still got the flu to some extent, and I am feeling slightly less than wretched, but I was wretched as recently as yesterday.
- But he doesn't make you think that the people were a poor, wretched mass of unwashed humanity.
- Have not the rich been guilty of ignoring the cry of the wretched and the poor in this little world we share?
- When these wretched people arrived at Grosse Ile it was ill-equipped to deal with such a humanitarian disaster.
- He was taken aback by the sheer number of places they had found containing such wretched people.
- The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand.
- I must have cut a wretched figure, filthy and sunburnt, to the brother who heard my explanations about who I was and why I was here.
- Needless to say, Zinfer's very first day on Planet Earth had turned out to be an unbelievably wretched experience for the poor little prince.
- You aren't the complicated villain nor the wretched hero.
- The only glimmer of hope for these wretched people is the emergence of organised resistance to the present policies.
- A just man maintains his life as a wretched beggar while another, stained by well known crimes, accumulates the highest honours.
- Younger brother Prince Khurram promptly had him killed, as fraternal ambitions were not to be encouraged, even though the wretched Prince Khusrau was blind.
- Harry's wretched past revisits him vividly, trailing behind it issues of betrayal, death, punishment and revenge.
Synonyms
miserable, unhappy, sad, broken-hearted, heartbroken, grief-stricken, grieving, sorrowful, sorrowing, mourning, anguished, distressed, desolate, devastated, despairing, inconsolable, disconsolate, downcast, down, downhearted, dejected, crestfallen, cheerless, depressed, melancholy, morose, gloomy, glum, mournful, doleful, dismal, forlorn, woeful, woebegone, abject, low-spirited, long-faced
informal blue, down in the mouth, down in the dumps, choked, cut up
British informal gutted
literary dolorous
archaic chap-fallen
unfortunate, unlucky, luckless, down on one's luck, ill-starred, star-crossed, damned, blighted, hapless, poor, pitiable, distressed, downtrodden, oppressed, powerless, helpless
1. 1.1 Of poor quality; very bad.
  the wretched conditions of the slums
  Example sentencesExamples
  His son, Seebohm, had done more than anyone to expose the wretched living conditions of the poor in his 1901 treatise on the slums of York.
  They can be put through wretched working conditions without a chance of redress.
  It takes a special individual to perform those kinds of duties under such wretched conditions.
  With that wretched season behind him, Wilson is now looking ahead to 2006 with renewed enthusiasm.
  Though the surroundings are far from pleasant they are not wretched.
  Workers and their families continued living in wretched conditions in the shadows of the buildings they had made.
  It is true that the wretched weather has left them short of match practice and there is little cricket over the next few days in which to get their rhythm back.
  Hundreds waited in line, even in the day's wretched weather, to try and register their willingness to help.
  Three times the tie has been called off by wretched weather, but all the signs indicate the game at Netherfield Road will at last be played tonight at the fourth time of asking.
  But most of them live in places where housing conditions are wretched and public services inadequate.
  Herb-roasted chicken was made for this wretched weather, and the jus surrounding it is soppingly worth at least half a loaf.
  The weather was of a wretched description, raining practically all day.
  It's a good exercise for me, because the quality of the campaign so far has been so wretched, it means I might learn something about them, and even make my mind up as to who to vote for.
  They lived in tenements and shanties of poor repair with wretched sanitary conditions.
  Lawyers tend to be wretched writers, which is odd given that the written word is their stock in trade.
  Under these wretched conditions families are being started and children reared.
  The submariners say it was only the comradeship which enabled crews to endure the wretched conditions.
  It was clear from the outset that fast and flowing rugby would be impossible because of the wretched conditions.
  He lived among coal miners for a time to experience the wretched conditions of the underclass during that era.
  Her father is a great king but a wretched parent.
  Synonyms
  harsh, hard, grim, stark, difficult
  poor, poverty-stricken, run down, down at heel, impoverished
  pitiful, piteous, pathetic, tragic, miserable, bleak, cheerless, hopeless, sorry, sordid, shabby, seedy, dilapidated, shoddy, godforsaken
  informal scummy, crummy
  British informal grotty
  terrible, awful, dire, dreadful, atrocious, unspeakable, dismal, bad, poor, lamentable, deplorable, unsatisfactory, substandard, low-quality, inferior
  informal yucky, God-awful
  British informal beastly, pants, a load of pants
2. 1.2 Used to express anger or annoyance.
  she disliked the wretched man intensely
  Example sentencesExamples
  They are wretched at dealing with anyone who applies their own principles better than they do because this pulls the moral high ground out from under them.
  I lost out to a friend who ate seven of the wretched things.
  I don't care how much your precious Princess likes the wretched beast - if it comes near this castle, it will be killed.
  But he could see traces of his own face, and some of that wretched girl's, in the young man's portrait.
  I fear the worst is yet to come, for now she has brought Father into the wretched business.
  Alvarez and Marx watched as bright orange columns of flame rained down upon the wretched tangle of vines and smoke started to trail up behind them.
  Desperately poor health conditions are distributed with a wretched evenness across the land.
  I plopped onto the couch and that wretched dog hopped up next to me and began to bark.
  He has bred 300,000 of the four legged creatures and is hoping they will eat enough of the wretched insects to mark an improvement.
  Eventually, the robbers left the bank with nothing more than their very queasy stomachs after having eaten a number of bowls of this wretched vanilla pudding.
  In fact, people in the developing world have become relatively poorer and more wretched.
  After all, there's nothing particularly joyful about me when I eventually do get around to the whole wretched business.
  However, the putrid coffee poured out of industrial Thermoses made me feel like I had just attended some sort of wretched business conference.
  Like a Pavlov dog I've been trained to associate this wretched comedy with bad odours, and for better or for worse, this sorry experience will never be repeated.
  Her crime was to provide a false alibi for her wretched lover.
  The most wretched people in the world are those who tell you they like every kind of music ‘except country.’
  If they can't get their stories straight in this wretched business then how can they be expected to lead Scottish rugby out of the spectacular mess it has now become?
  But then he reveals that their wretched father recently paid a visit.
  He is wretched, weak, ugly, inspiring contempt and disgust in not only all the supposedly good-hearted characters but also the reader.
  The development will be seen as evidence of the wretched luck which has dogged the Holyrood project.
  Synonyms
  despicable, contemptible, beyond contempt, reprehensible, base, low, vile, mean, scurvy, abominable, loathsome, hateful, detestable, odious, disreputable, depraved, debased, infamous, villainous, ignoble, shameful, shabby, worthless
  informal dirty, filthy, dirty rotten, rotten, low-down, no-good, lousy
  British informal beastly
  informal damn, damned, blasted, blessed, flaming, precious, confounded, rotten
  British informal flipping, blinking, blooming, blimming, bloody, bleeding, effing, naffing, chuffing
  North American informal goddam
  Australian/New Zealand informal plurry
  British informal, dated bally, ruddy, deuced
  vulgar slang fucking, frigging
  British vulgar slang sodding
  Irish vulgar slang fecking

Derivatives

wretchedly

adverb ˈrɛtʃɪdli

as submodifier a wretchedly poor country
Example sentencesExamples
- Commiserating with grieving relatives, I always told them that I felt wretchedly responsible for what had happened and apologised in person where I could.
- I felt wretchedly horrible and I really did believe it was partly my fault Will was here in the hospital and he was paralysed.
- Michele's village is obviously and wretchedly poor.
- I watched them wretchedly age, season after season, and no matter how bad my mood, I could always worsen it by glancing at them.
- But it stressed that, despite the improvement, the amount fell wretchedly short of what was needed - and warned that some countries had been so crippled by the pandemic that they risked instability.

wretchedness

noun ˈrɛtʃɪdnəs

But, he failed to mention that, with that knowledge comes misery and wretchedness, pain and suffering.
Example sentencesExamples
- But the statistics alone, as horrifying as they are, hardly convey the trauma, pain and wretchedness of the victims.
- What I ended up not liking, actually detesting with a burning passion, was the sheer wretchedness of the text in the piece and the excessive self-consciousness in which they made reference to the painterly/artistic process.
- But there are fissures in the cocky exterior that occasionally reveal a rage and a wretchedness that seems to border on despair.
- On visits to the West of Ireland in 1847 he saw scenes of such misery and wretchedness that ‘might have driven a wise man mad.’

Origin

Middle English: formed irregularly from wretch + -ed¹.

Definition of wretched in US English:

wretched

adjectiveˈreCHədˈrɛtʃəd

1(of a person) in a very unhappy or unfortunate state.
I felt so wretched because I thought I might never see you again
Example sentencesExamples
- He was taken aback by the sheer number of places they had found containing such wretched people.
- I have also still got the flu to some extent, and I am feeling slightly less than wretched, but I was wretched as recently as yesterday.
- He begs for food and wears only a loincloth and a cloak, shunning the townspeople and becoming a wretched figure with unkempt hair and long fingernails.
- Pentheus tore away his headband from his hair, and ripped the feminine disguise from his frame that his wretched mother might recognize him!
- You aren't the complicated villain nor the wretched hero.
- A just man maintains his life as a wretched beggar while another, stained by well known crimes, accumulates the highest honours.
- Have not the rich been guilty of ignoring the cry of the wretched and the poor in this little world we share?
- I must have cut a wretched figure, filthy and sunburnt, to the brother who heard my explanations about who I was and why I was here.
- Her eyes had widened considerably upon taking in the sight the wretched man, and she feared she might be sick from looking at his numerous injuries.
- The only glimmer of hope for these wretched people is the emergence of organised resistance to the present policies.
- Younger brother Prince Khurram promptly had him killed, as fraternal ambitions were not to be encouraged, even though the wretched Prince Khusrau was blind.
- Although they were all being tenderly cared for by wonderful nurses, with plenty of personal attention and attempts to comfort and stimulate them, they were absolutely wretched.
- A fanatic easily makes conquests among a wretched people.
- But he doesn't make you think that the people were a poor, wretched mass of unwashed humanity.
- The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand.
- The role of A Vijayaraghavan, MP, was significant in securing Indian citizenship for these wretched people.
- Needless to say, Zinfer's very first day on Planet Earth had turned out to be an unbelievably wretched experience for the poor little prince.
- Harry's wretched past revisits him vividly, trailing behind it issues of betrayal, death, punishment and revenge.
- When these wretched people arrived at Grosse Ile it was ill-equipped to deal with such a humanitarian disaster.
- The poor wretched beast was tied up on a rope that was too short to let him lie down.
Synonyms
miserable, unhappy, sad, broken-hearted, heartbroken, grief-stricken, grieving, sorrowful, sorrowing, mourning, anguished, distressed, desolate, devastated, despairing, inconsolable, disconsolate, downcast, down, downhearted, dejected, crestfallen, cheerless, depressed, melancholy, morose, gloomy, glum, mournful, doleful, dismal, forlorn, woeful, woebegone, abject, low-spirited, long-faced
unfortunate, unlucky, luckless, down on one's luck, ill-starred, star-crossed, damned, blighted, hapless, poor, pitiable, distressed, downtrodden, oppressed, powerless, helpless
1. 1.1 Of poor quality; very bad.
  the wretched conditions of the slums
  Example sentencesExamples
  Lawyers tend to be wretched writers, which is odd given that the written word is their stock in trade.
  With that wretched season behind him, Wilson is now looking ahead to 2006 with renewed enthusiasm.
  They lived in tenements and shanties of poor repair with wretched sanitary conditions.
  It's a good exercise for me, because the quality of the campaign so far has been so wretched, it means I might learn something about them, and even make my mind up as to who to vote for.
  Though the surroundings are far from pleasant they are not wretched.
  Her father is a great king but a wretched parent.
  Hundreds waited in line, even in the day's wretched weather, to try and register their willingness to help.
  Workers and their families continued living in wretched conditions in the shadows of the buildings they had made.
  Herb-roasted chicken was made for this wretched weather, and the jus surrounding it is soppingly worth at least half a loaf.
  Three times the tie has been called off by wretched weather, but all the signs indicate the game at Netherfield Road will at last be played tonight at the fourth time of asking.
  Under these wretched conditions families are being started and children reared.
  It is true that the wretched weather has left them short of match practice and there is little cricket over the next few days in which to get their rhythm back.
  It was clear from the outset that fast and flowing rugby would be impossible because of the wretched conditions.
  He lived among coal miners for a time to experience the wretched conditions of the underclass during that era.
  The submariners say it was only the comradeship which enabled crews to endure the wretched conditions.
  The weather was of a wretched description, raining practically all day.
  But most of them live in places where housing conditions are wretched and public services inadequate.
  His son, Seebohm, had done more than anyone to expose the wretched living conditions of the poor in his 1901 treatise on the slums of York.
  They can be put through wretched working conditions without a chance of redress.
  It takes a special individual to perform those kinds of duties under such wretched conditions.
  Synonyms
  harsh, hard, grim, stark, difficult
  terrible, awful, dire, dreadful, atrocious, unspeakable, dismal, bad, poor, lamentable, deplorable, unsatisfactory, substandard, low-quality, inferior
2. 1.2 Used to express anger or annoyance.
  she disliked the wretched man intensely
  Example sentencesExamples
  I plopped onto the couch and that wretched dog hopped up next to me and began to bark.
  They are wretched at dealing with anyone who applies their own principles better than they do because this pulls the moral high ground out from under them.
  The most wretched people in the world are those who tell you they like every kind of music ‘except country.’
  I fear the worst is yet to come, for now she has brought Father into the wretched business.
  He is wretched, weak, ugly, inspiring contempt and disgust in not only all the supposedly good-hearted characters but also the reader.
  He has bred 300,000 of the four legged creatures and is hoping they will eat enough of the wretched insects to mark an improvement.
  I lost out to a friend who ate seven of the wretched things.
  In fact, people in the developing world have become relatively poorer and more wretched.
  However, the putrid coffee poured out of industrial Thermoses made me feel like I had just attended some sort of wretched business conference.
  If they can't get their stories straight in this wretched business then how can they be expected to lead Scottish rugby out of the spectacular mess it has now become?
  After all, there's nothing particularly joyful about me when I eventually do get around to the whole wretched business.
  The development will be seen as evidence of the wretched luck which has dogged the Holyrood project.
  Eventually, the robbers left the bank with nothing more than their very queasy stomachs after having eaten a number of bowls of this wretched vanilla pudding.
  Her crime was to provide a false alibi for her wretched lover.
  But he could see traces of his own face, and some of that wretched girl's, in the young man's portrait.
  Alvarez and Marx watched as bright orange columns of flame rained down upon the wretched tangle of vines and smoke started to trail up behind them.
  But then he reveals that their wretched father recently paid a visit.
  Like a Pavlov dog I've been trained to associate this wretched comedy with bad odours, and for better or for worse, this sorry experience will never be repeated.
  I don't care how much your precious Princess likes the wretched beast - if it comes near this castle, it will be killed.
  Desperately poor health conditions are distributed with a wretched evenness across the land.
  Synonyms
  despicable, contemptible, beyond contempt, reprehensible, base, low, vile, mean, scurvy, abominable, loathsome, hateful, detestable, odious, disreputable, depraved, debased, infamous, villainous, ignoble, shameful, shabby, worthless
  damn, damned, blasted, blessed, flaming, precious, confounded, rotten

Origin

Middle English: formed irregularly from wretch + -ed.

单词	wretched
释义	Definition of wretched in English: wretched adjectivewretchedest, wretcheder ˈrɛtʃɪdˈrɛtʃəd 1(of a person) in a very unhappy or unfortunate state. I felt so wretched because I thought I might never see you again Example sentencesExamples The poor wretched beast was tied up on a rope that was too short to let him lie down. Pentheus tore away his headband from his hair, and ripped the feminine disguise from his frame that his wretched mother might recognize him! He begs for food and wears only a loincloth and a cloak, shunning the townspeople and becoming a wretched figure with unkempt hair and long fingernails. A fanatic easily makes conquests among a wretched people. The role of A Vijayaraghavan, MP, was significant in securing Indian citizenship for these wretched people. Her eyes had widened considerably upon taking in the sight the wretched man, and she feared she might be sick from looking at his numerous injuries. Although they were all being tenderly cared for by wonderful nurses, with plenty of personal attention and attempts to comfort and stimulate them, they were absolutely wretched. I have also still got the flu to some extent, and I am feeling slightly less than wretched, but I was wretched as recently as yesterday. But he doesn't make you think that the people were a poor, wretched mass of unwashed humanity. Have not the rich been guilty of ignoring the cry of the wretched and the poor in this little world we share? When these wretched people arrived at Grosse Ile it was ill-equipped to deal with such a humanitarian disaster. He was taken aback by the sheer number of places they had found containing such wretched people. The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand. I must have cut a wretched figure, filthy and sunburnt, to the brother who heard my explanations about who I was and why I was here. Needless to say, Zinfer's very first day on Planet Earth had turned out to be an unbelievably wretched experience for the poor little prince. You aren't the complicated villain nor the wretched hero. The only glimmer of hope for these wretched people is the emergence of organised resistance to the present policies. A just man maintains his life as a wretched beggar while another, stained by well known crimes, accumulates the highest honours. Younger brother Prince Khurram promptly had him killed, as fraternal ambitions were not to be encouraged, even though the wretched Prince Khusrau was blind. Harry's wretched past revisits him vividly, trailing behind it issues of betrayal, death, punishment and revenge. Synonyms miserable, unhappy, sad, broken-hearted, heartbroken, grief-stricken, grieving, sorrowful, sorrowing, mourning, anguished, distressed, desolate, devastated, despairing, inconsolable, disconsolate, downcast, down, downhearted, dejected, crestfallen, cheerless, depressed, melancholy, morose, gloomy, glum, mournful, doleful, dismal, forlorn, woeful, woebegone, abject, low-spirited, long-faced informal blue, down in the mouth, down in the dumps, choked, cut up British informal gutted literary dolorous archaic chap-fallen unfortunate, unlucky, luckless, down on one's luck, ill-starred, star-crossed, damned, blighted, hapless, poor, pitiable, distressed, downtrodden, oppressed, powerless, helpless 1.1 Of poor quality; very bad. the wretched conditions of the slums Example sentencesExamples His son, Seebohm, had done more than anyone to expose the wretched living conditions of the poor in his 1901 treatise on the slums of York. They can be put through wretched working conditions without a chance of redress. It takes a special individual to perform those kinds of duties under such wretched conditions. With that wretched season behind him, Wilson is now looking ahead to 2006 with renewed enthusiasm. Though the surroundings are far from pleasant they are not wretched. Workers and their families continued living in wretched conditions in the shadows of the buildings they had made. It is true that the wretched weather has left them short of match practice and there is little cricket over the next few days in which to get their rhythm back. Hundreds waited in line, even in the day's wretched weather, to try and register their willingness to help. Three times the tie has been called off by wretched weather, but all the signs indicate the game at Netherfield Road will at last be played tonight at the fourth time of asking. But most of them live in places where housing conditions are wretched and public services inadequate. Herb-roasted chicken was made for this wretched weather, and the jus surrounding it is soppingly worth at least half a loaf. The weather was of a wretched description, raining practically all day. It's a good exercise for me, because the quality of the campaign so far has been so wretched, it means I might learn something about them, and even make my mind up as to who to vote for. They lived in tenements and shanties of poor repair with wretched sanitary conditions. Lawyers tend to be wretched writers, which is odd given that the written word is their stock in trade. Under these wretched conditions families are being started and children reared. The submariners say it was only the comradeship which enabled crews to endure the wretched conditions. It was clear from the outset that fast and flowing rugby would be impossible because of the wretched conditions. He lived among coal miners for a time to experience the wretched conditions of the underclass during that era. Her father is a great king but a wretched parent. Synonyms harsh, hard, grim, stark, difficult poor, poverty-stricken, run down, down at heel, impoverished pitiful, piteous, pathetic, tragic, miserable, bleak, cheerless, hopeless, sorry, sordid, shabby, seedy, dilapidated, shoddy, godforsaken informal scummy, crummy British informal grotty terrible, awful, dire, dreadful, atrocious, unspeakable, dismal, bad, poor, lamentable, deplorable, unsatisfactory, substandard, low-quality, inferior informal yucky, God-awful British informal beastly, pants, a load of pants 1.2 Used to express anger or annoyance. she disliked the wretched man intensely Example sentencesExamples They are wretched at dealing with anyone who applies their own principles better than they do because this pulls the moral high ground out from under them. I lost out to a friend who ate seven of the wretched things. I don't care how much your precious Princess likes the wretched beast - if it comes near this castle, it will be killed. But he could see traces of his own face, and some of that wretched girl's, in the young man's portrait. I fear the worst is yet to come, for now she has brought Father into the wretched business. Alvarez and Marx watched as bright orange columns of flame rained down upon the wretched tangle of vines and smoke started to trail up behind them. Desperately poor health conditions are distributed with a wretched evenness across the land. I plopped onto the couch and that wretched dog hopped up next to me and began to bark. He has bred 300,000 of the four legged creatures and is hoping they will eat enough of the wretched insects to mark an improvement. Eventually, the robbers left the bank with nothing more than their very queasy stomachs after having eaten a number of bowls of this wretched vanilla pudding. In fact, people in the developing world have become relatively poorer and more wretched. After all, there's nothing particularly joyful about me when I eventually do get around to the whole wretched business. However, the putrid coffee poured out of industrial Thermoses made me feel like I had just attended some sort of wretched business conference. Like a Pavlov dog I've been trained to associate this wretched comedy with bad odours, and for better or for worse, this sorry experience will never be repeated. Her crime was to provide a false alibi for her wretched lover. The most wretched people in the world are those who tell you they like every kind of music ‘except country.’ If they can't get their stories straight in this wretched business then how can they be expected to lead Scottish rugby out of the spectacular mess it has now become? But then he reveals that their wretched father recently paid a visit. He is wretched, weak, ugly, inspiring contempt and disgust in not only all the supposedly good-hearted characters but also the reader. The development will be seen as evidence of the wretched luck which has dogged the Holyrood project. Synonyms despicable, contemptible, beyond contempt, reprehensible, base, low, vile, mean, scurvy, abominable, loathsome, hateful, detestable, odious, disreputable, depraved, debased, infamous, villainous, ignoble, shameful, shabby, worthless informal dirty, filthy, dirty rotten, rotten, low-down, no-good, lousy British informal beastly informal damn, damned, blasted, blessed, flaming, precious, confounded, rotten British informal flipping, blinking, blooming, blimming, bloody, bleeding, effing, naffing, chuffing North American informal goddam Australian/New Zealand informal plurry British informal, dated bally, ruddy, deuced vulgar slang fucking, frigging British vulgar slang sodding Irish vulgar slang fecking Derivatives wretchedly adverb ˈrɛtʃɪdli as submodifier a wretchedly poor country Example sentencesExamples Commiserating with grieving relatives, I always told them that I felt wretchedly responsible for what had happened and apologised in person where I could. I felt wretchedly horrible and I really did believe it was partly my fault Will was here in the hospital and he was paralysed. Michele's village is obviously and wretchedly poor. I watched them wretchedly age, season after season, and no matter how bad my mood, I could always worsen it by glancing at them. But it stressed that, despite the improvement, the amount fell wretchedly short of what was needed - and warned that some countries had been so crippled by the pandemic that they risked instability. wretchedness noun ˈrɛtʃɪdnəs But, he failed to mention that, with that knowledge comes misery and wretchedness, pain and suffering. Example sentencesExamples But the statistics alone, as horrifying as they are, hardly convey the trauma, pain and wretchedness of the victims. What I ended up not liking, actually detesting with a burning passion, was the sheer wretchedness of the text in the piece and the excessive self-consciousness in which they made reference to the painterly/artistic process. But there are fissures in the cocky exterior that occasionally reveal a rage and a wretchedness that seems to border on despair. On visits to the West of Ireland in 1847 he saw scenes of such misery and wretchedness that ‘might have driven a wise man mad.’ Origin Middle English: formed irregularly from wretch + -ed¹. Definition of wretched in US English: wretched adjectiveˈreCHədˈrɛtʃəd 1(of a person) in a very unhappy or unfortunate state. I felt so wretched because I thought I might never see you again Example sentencesExamples He was taken aback by the sheer number of places they had found containing such wretched people. I have also still got the flu to some extent, and I am feeling slightly less than wretched, but I was wretched as recently as yesterday. He begs for food and wears only a loincloth and a cloak, shunning the townspeople and becoming a wretched figure with unkempt hair and long fingernails. Pentheus tore away his headband from his hair, and ripped the feminine disguise from his frame that his wretched mother might recognize him! You aren't the complicated villain nor the wretched hero. A just man maintains his life as a wretched beggar while another, stained by well known crimes, accumulates the highest honours. Have not the rich been guilty of ignoring the cry of the wretched and the poor in this little world we share? I must have cut a wretched figure, filthy and sunburnt, to the brother who heard my explanations about who I was and why I was here. Her eyes had widened considerably upon taking in the sight the wretched man, and she feared she might be sick from looking at his numerous injuries. The only glimmer of hope for these wretched people is the emergence of organised resistance to the present policies. Younger brother Prince Khurram promptly had him killed, as fraternal ambitions were not to be encouraged, even though the wretched Prince Khusrau was blind. Although they were all being tenderly cared for by wonderful nurses, with plenty of personal attention and attempts to comfort and stimulate them, they were absolutely wretched. A fanatic easily makes conquests among a wretched people. But he doesn't make you think that the people were a poor, wretched mass of unwashed humanity. The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand. The role of A Vijayaraghavan, MP, was significant in securing Indian citizenship for these wretched people. Needless to say, Zinfer's very first day on Planet Earth had turned out to be an unbelievably wretched experience for the poor little prince. Harry's wretched past revisits him vividly, trailing behind it issues of betrayal, death, punishment and revenge. When these wretched people arrived at Grosse Ile it was ill-equipped to deal with such a humanitarian disaster. The poor wretched beast was tied up on a rope that was too short to let him lie down. Synonyms miserable, unhappy, sad, broken-hearted, heartbroken, grief-stricken, grieving, sorrowful, sorrowing, mourning, anguished, distressed, desolate, devastated, despairing, inconsolable, disconsolate, downcast, down, downhearted, dejected, crestfallen, cheerless, depressed, melancholy, morose, gloomy, glum, mournful, doleful, dismal, forlorn, woeful, woebegone, abject, low-spirited, long-faced unfortunate, unlucky, luckless, down on one's luck, ill-starred, star-crossed, damned, blighted, hapless, poor, pitiable, distressed, downtrodden, oppressed, powerless, helpless 1.1 Of poor quality; very bad. the wretched conditions of the slums Example sentencesExamples Lawyers tend to be wretched writers, which is odd given that the written word is their stock in trade. With that wretched season behind him, Wilson is now looking ahead to 2006 with renewed enthusiasm. They lived in tenements and shanties of poor repair with wretched sanitary conditions. It's a good exercise for me, because the quality of the campaign so far has been so wretched, it means I might learn something about them, and even make my mind up as to who to vote for. Though the surroundings are far from pleasant they are not wretched. Her father is a great king but a wretched parent. Hundreds waited in line, even in the day's wretched weather, to try and register their willingness to help. Workers and their families continued living in wretched conditions in the shadows of the buildings they had made. Herb-roasted chicken was made for this wretched weather, and the jus surrounding it is soppingly worth at least half a loaf. Three times the tie has been called off by wretched weather, but all the signs indicate the game at Netherfield Road will at last be played tonight at the fourth time of asking. Under these wretched conditions families are being started and children reared. It is true that the wretched weather has left them short of match practice and there is little cricket over the next few days in which to get their rhythm back. It was clear from the outset that fast and flowing rugby would be impossible because of the wretched conditions. He lived among coal miners for a time to experience the wretched conditions of the underclass during that era. The submariners say it was only the comradeship which enabled crews to endure the wretched conditions. The weather was of a wretched description, raining practically all day. But most of them live in places where housing conditions are wretched and public services inadequate. His son, Seebohm, had done more than anyone to expose the wretched living conditions of the poor in his 1901 treatise on the slums of York. They can be put through wretched working conditions without a chance of redress. It takes a special individual to perform those kinds of duties under such wretched conditions. Synonyms harsh, hard, grim, stark, difficult terrible, awful, dire, dreadful, atrocious, unspeakable, dismal, bad, poor, lamentable, deplorable, unsatisfactory, substandard, low-quality, inferior 1.2 Used to express anger or annoyance. she disliked the wretched man intensely Example sentencesExamples I plopped onto the couch and that wretched dog hopped up next to me and began to bark. They are wretched at dealing with anyone who applies their own principles better than they do because this pulls the moral high ground out from under them. The most wretched people in the world are those who tell you they like every kind of music ‘except country.’ I fear the worst is yet to come, for now she has brought Father into the wretched business. He is wretched, weak, ugly, inspiring contempt and disgust in not only all the supposedly good-hearted characters but also the reader. He has bred 300,000 of the four legged creatures and is hoping they will eat enough of the wretched insects to mark an improvement. I lost out to a friend who ate seven of the wretched things. In fact, people in the developing world have become relatively poorer and more wretched. However, the putrid coffee poured out of industrial Thermoses made me feel like I had just attended some sort of wretched business conference. If they can't get their stories straight in this wretched business then how can they be expected to lead Scottish rugby out of the spectacular mess it has now become? After all, there's nothing particularly joyful about me when I eventually do get around to the whole wretched business. The development will be seen as evidence of the wretched luck which has dogged the Holyrood project. Eventually, the robbers left the bank with nothing more than their very queasy stomachs after having eaten a number of bowls of this wretched vanilla pudding. Her crime was to provide a false alibi for her wretched lover. But he could see traces of his own face, and some of that wretched girl's, in the young man's portrait. Alvarez and Marx watched as bright orange columns of flame rained down upon the wretched tangle of vines and smoke started to trail up behind them. But then he reveals that their wretched father recently paid a visit. Like a Pavlov dog I've been trained to associate this wretched comedy with bad odours, and for better or for worse, this sorry experience will never be repeated. I don't care how much your precious Princess likes the wretched beast - if it comes near this castle, it will be killed. Desperately poor health conditions are distributed with a wretched evenness across the land. Synonyms despicable, contemptible, beyond contempt, reprehensible, base, low, vile, mean, scurvy, abominable, loathsome, hateful, detestable, odious, disreputable, depraved, debased, infamous, villainous, ignoble, shameful, shabby, worthless damn, damned, blasted, blessed, flaming, precious, confounded, rotten Origin Middle English: formed irregularly from wretch + -ed.
随便看	purposes purposing purpositive purposive purposively purposively purposiveness purposiveness purposivism purposivist purpresture purprestures purpura purpura haemorrhagica purpurascent purpurate purpurated purpure purpureal purpured purpurein purpureine purpureous purpurescent purpuric