Deserving or inciting pity. Synonyms: hapless, miserable, misfortunate, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, wretched. "Miserable victims of war" , "The shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic" , "Piteous appeals for help" , "Pitiable homeless children" , "A pitiful fate" , "Oh, you poor thing" , "His poor distorted limbs" , "A wretched life"