wretch
13
6.1
- noun
- /rɛtʃ/
- Literature
:
desdichado
- I understand you are the horrible tyrant who imprisoned this unfortunate wretch.
She's she says letters were first invented for comforting such solitary wretches as myself.
- She's she says letters were first invented for comforting such solitary wretches as myself.
- We are glorious beings and we are wretches.
Examples
-
I was a wretch.
-
Naked and bare, murmured the poor wretch during the 24 hours she spent in the coffin.
Fiction book (1994) -
How sweet the sound that saved a Wretch like me.
-
There is no other Wretch for whom the like was done.
-
Who could be sorry for a wretch like me, eh?
Fiction book (1991) -
Look at me, I'm a wretch.
-
I mean, a knight like you could spare a wretch like me just a small, small act of kindness.
-
Whereas I, indolent wretch... have spent a pitifully long time on these islands.
-
After losing his job, he felt like a wretch without any hope for the future.
-
The documentary featured a wretch who had endured poverty for many years, evoking sympathy from viewers.
Synonyms
2
5.4
A person you feel sorry for
Compounds
How Miserable
- Literature
13
6.1
31
3.2
Surface Forms
Etymology
Wretch comes from the old English word wrecca, which meant 'exile' or someone 'driven out'. Imagine a person forced to wander and suffer — that image helps explain why wretch now means a very unhappy, pitiable person.