Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Inspiring or deserving of lament or regret; deplorable or pitiable. synonym: pathetic.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bo lamented; exciting or calling for sorrow; grievous: as, a lamentable deterioration of morals.
  • Expressive of grief; mournful: as, a lamentable cry.
  • Miserable; pitiful; low; poor.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Archaic Mourning; sorrowful; expressing grief.
  • adjective Fitted to awaken lament; to be lamented; sorrowful; pitiable; regrettable; unfortunate.
  • adjective Miserable; pitiful; paltry; -- in a contemptuous or ridiculous sense.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Causing sorrow, distress or regret; deplorable, pitiful or distressing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective bad; unfortunate

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin lāmentābilis ("full of sorrow, mournful; deplorable"), from lāmentor ("lament"), from lāmenta ("wailing, weeping").

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Examples

  • She pointed to what she called lamentable living standards and unbelievable corruption in this country that supplies the U.S. with crude oil.

    Bomb Bid Throws Nigeria Into Terrorism Debate 2010

  • Hence what she describes as the lamentable four-year period of "apostasy" forced upon Shakespeare after The Merchant of Venice, during which he was obliged to abandon or temper his "elegantly encrypted appeals" before returning to them with a difference in Julius Caesar.

    The One and Only Barton, Anne 2006

  • The children were crying with hunger in lamentable fashion.

    Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun 1903

  • Viewed as it stood in the reality, as he was and as it was, the enterprise, since it proved so unfortunate, may be called lamentable, but cannot be called unnatural.

    Paras. 25-49 1909

  • It was a painting, impregnated with ancient mysticism, representing the figure of Jesus with eyes closed, forehead bloody, expression lamentable and dead; the head seemed to be cut off, separated from the body, and placed there on a gray linen cloth.

    Ramuntcho Pierre Loti 1886

  • Last week's Hoon-Hewitt coup has been described as a lamentable failure.

    WN.com - Articles related to Gordon Brown's debt denial 'is worse than Nazi appeasement before WW2' 2010

  • Last week's Hoon-Hewitt coup has been described as a lamentable failure.

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • Last week's Hoon-Hewitt coup has been described as a lamentable failure.

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • He also pointed out the damage always caused by internal friction in the nation's sports administration, describing as lamentable a situation where the ministry and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are always at loggerheads in the build-up to major competitions.

    Thisday Online 2010

  • British manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in more than two years in December, buoyed by a sharp jump in new orders, a closely watched survey showed Last week's Hoon-Hewitt coup has been described as a lamentable failure.

    WN.com - Business News 2010

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