pity

1. 1.

   share the suffering of

   Synonymsfeel forcompassionatecondole withsympathize with

   Broadergrieve

   Narrowercommiseratecare

Other forms of pity

plural

pities·

past tense or participle

pitied

present participle

pitying·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about pity

What does pity mean?

pity means "a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in pity?

pity has 2 syllables: pit-y. The stress falls on "pit". In IPA it is /ˈpɪti/.

What is another word for pity?

Close synonyms include commiseration, ruth, pathos, shame, compassion. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is pity a common word?

pity is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.