Wretch
noun
A person who is very unhappy, ill, or poor.
She was left a penniless wretch after her husband died.
noun
A despicable or contemptible person.
That wretch has cheated on her multiple times.
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
noun
A pitiful or unfortunate person.
He was such a wretch, always caught up in some kind of trouble.
noun
A person who is very unhappy, ill, or poor.
She was left a penniless wretch after her husband died.
noun
A despicable or contemptible person.
That wretch has cheated on her multiple times.
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
noun
A pitiful or unfortunate person.
He was such a wretch, always caught up in some kind of trouble.
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Compassion Trigger
Used to evoke pity or sympathy towards someone suffering.
The wretch lay in the street, ignored by passersby.
Pro Tip 2/3Extreme States
Highlights severe unhappiness, sickness, or poverty, not mild forms.
The wretch wept for hours, her sorrows deep as an ocean.
Pro Tip 3/3Narrative Emphasis
Often used in stories to draw attention to a character's plight.
In the novel, the wretch's fate moved many readers to tears.
Pro Tip 1/3Compassion Trigger
Used to evoke pity or sympathy towards someone suffering.
The wretch lay in the street, ignored by passersby.
Pro Tip 2/3Extreme States
Highlights severe unhappiness, sickness, or poverty, not mild forms.
The wretch wept for hours, her sorrows deep as an ocean.
Pro Tip 3/3Narrative Emphasis
Often used in stories to draw attention to a character's plight.
In the novel, the wretch's fate moved many readers to tears.
Pro Tip 1/3Compassion Trigger
Used to evoke pity or sympathy towards someone suffering.
The wretch lay in the street, ignored by passersby.
Pro Tip 2/3Extreme States
Highlights severe unhappiness, sickness, or poverty, not mild forms.
The wretch wept for hours, her sorrows deep as an ocean.
Pro Tip 3/3Narrative Emphasis
Often used in stories to draw attention to a character's plight.
In the novel, the wretch's fate moved many readers to tears.
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Video examples
How to gain control of...
Bit of a wretched genre of literature, really, going on about how amazing everyone in the household is, or even more scintillating, how busy everyone in the household is. But these letters serve a purpose, which is that they tell your friends and family what you did in your personal life that mattered to you over the year. So this year's kind of done,
Video examples
Jeff Bezos: The...
a fact we were unaware of, until after the miserable wretches turned beneath the hooves of our cavalcade. The eyeless sockets of the pack animals everywhere account for the myriads of ravens along the road. The inhumanity which this trail has been witness to, the heartbreak and suffering which so many have undergone,
Video examples
"To This Day" ... for...
that there's no way for it to metastasize; it does. She was eight years old, our first day of grade three when she got called ugly. We both got moved to the back of class so we would stop getting bombarded by spitballs. But the school halls were a battleground. We found ourselves outnumbered day after wretched day.
Video examples
You aren't at the mercy...
and use it in your everyday life. So just, you know, imagine waking up in the morning. I'm sure you've had this experience. I know I have. You wake up and as you're emerging into consciousness, you feel this horrible dread, you know, this real wretchedness,
Video examples
The myth of Jason,...
Buffeted by hostile winds, the wretched crew washed up on the island of Circe the sorceress. Medea begged her aunt to absolve them of wrongdoing— but bloody deeds are not so easily forgotten, and fallen heroes not so rapidly redeemed.
Video examples
Snow Monkey Families In...
the head of the family leads them to the edge of their territory in search of something to eat the only food here is wretchedly um nourishing bark moss and lichen there's hardly enough to sustain one monkey let alone a family
Video examples
Building a city for the...
so wretched what do i inherit after centuries of subjugation he tells himself I know this earth knows my name but she has not called me for lifetimes what do i inherit from that history I don't blame him but I know that this
Video examples
Ticks Can Kill Moose? PIPE...
and wretched animals on the area something is literally draining the life out of them it is the winter tick as full and bloated as its host is starving it's estimated that ticks can drain a moose calf of half its blood
Video examples
Funky Smelling Fruit PIPE...
invasion is underway staff at hotels watch nervously for a food that is putrid wretched and loved by millions meet the durian fruit their smell is hard to describe
Video examples
These Divers Search For...
you know there's another sort of feeling you get and I just remember seeing that that wretched stand and so I approached the wood and I'm resound and grabbed and
Video examples
How to gain control of...
Bit of a wretched genre of literature, really, going on about how amazing everyone in the household is, or even more scintillating, how busy everyone in the household is. But these letters serve a purpose, which is that they tell your friends and family what you did in your personal life that mattered to you over the year. So this year's kind of done,
Video examples
Jeff Bezos: The...
a fact we were unaware of, until after the miserable wretches turned beneath the hooves of our cavalcade. The eyeless sockets of the pack animals everywhere account for the myriads of ravens along the road. The inhumanity which this trail has been witness to, the heartbreak and suffering which so many have undergone,
Video examples
"To This Day" ... for...
that there's no way for it to metastasize; it does. She was eight years old, our first day of grade three when she got called ugly. We both got moved to the back of class so we would stop getting bombarded by spitballs. But the school halls were a battleground. We found ourselves outnumbered day after wretched day.
Video examples
You aren't at the mercy...
and use it in your everyday life. So just, you know, imagine waking up in the morning. I'm sure you've had this experience. I know I have. You wake up and as you're emerging into consciousness, you feel this horrible dread, you know, this real wretchedness,
Video examples
The myth of Jason,...
Buffeted by hostile winds, the wretched crew washed up on the island of Circe the sorceress. Medea begged her aunt to absolve them of wrongdoing— but bloody deeds are not so easily forgotten, and fallen heroes not so rapidly redeemed.
Video examples
Snow Monkey Families In...
the head of the family leads them to the edge of their territory in search of something to eat the only food here is wretchedly um nourishing bark moss and lichen there's hardly enough to sustain one monkey let alone a family
Video examples
Building a city for the...
so wretched what do i inherit after centuries of subjugation he tells himself I know this earth knows my name but she has not called me for lifetimes what do i inherit from that history I don't blame him but I know that this
Video examples
Ticks Can Kill Moose? PIPE...
and wretched animals on the area something is literally draining the life out of them it is the winter tick as full and bloated as its host is starving it's estimated that ticks can drain a moose calf of half its blood
Video examples
Funky Smelling Fruit PIPE...
invasion is underway staff at hotels watch nervously for a food that is putrid wretched and loved by millions meet the durian fruit their smell is hard to describe
Video examples
These Divers Search For...
you know there's another sort of feeling you get and I just remember seeing that that wretched stand and so I approached the wood and I'm resound and grabbed and
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Jan Karon
American Writer
My life is extremely full and wretchedly busy, and I feel that while my life drains energy from my work, my work in turn drains energy from my life. The result is, I am always playing catch-up spiritually. That is my thorn.
Quote examples
Jupiter Hammon
American Poet
We live so little time in this world that it is no matter how wretched and miserable we are, if it prepares us for heaven.
Quote examples
Roger Scruton
English Philosopher
My life divides into three parts. In the first I was wretched; in the second ill at ease; in the third hunting.
Quote examples
David Simon
American Author
It's been said that no man is a hero to a newspaperman, and I spent too many years as an ink-stained wretch.
Quote examples
Aeschylus
Greek Poet
Death is easier than a wretched life; and better never to have born than to live and fare badly.
Quote examples
Ralph Steadman
British Cartoonist
It makes me so desperately sad to witness just how unforgivably wretched our world has become.
Quote examples
Samuel Johnson
English Writer
The wretched have no compassion, they can do good only from strong principles of duty.
Quote examples
Carolyn See
American Author
You don't want to burden some poor wretch with the entire story of your life.
Quote examples
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian Artist
Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!
Quote examples
Anthony Burgess
English Novelist
Life is a wretched gray Saturday, but it has to be lived through.
Quote examples
Jan Karon
American Writer
My life is extremely full and wretchedly busy, and I feel that while my life drains energy from my work, my work in turn drains energy from my life. The result is, I am always playing catch-up spiritually. That is my thorn.
Quote examples
Jupiter Hammon
American Poet
We live so little time in this world that it is no matter how wretched and miserable we are, if it prepares us for heaven.
Quote examples
Roger Scruton
English Philosopher
My life divides into three parts. In the first I was wretched; in the second ill at ease; in the third hunting.
Quote examples
David Simon
American Author
It's been said that no man is a hero to a newspaperman, and I spent too many years as an ink-stained wretch.
Quote examples
Aeschylus
Greek Poet
Death is easier than a wretched life; and better never to have born than to live and fare badly.
Quote examples
Ralph Steadman
British Cartoonist
It makes me so desperately sad to witness just how unforgivably wretched our world has become.
Quote examples
Samuel Johnson
English Writer
The wretched have no compassion, they can do good only from strong principles of duty.
Quote examples
Carolyn See
American Author
You don't want to burden some poor wretch with the entire story of your life.
Quote examples
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian Artist
Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!
Quote examples
Anthony Burgess
English Novelist
Life is a wretched gray Saturday, but it has to be lived through.
Example 1 of 10
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