Definition of "pitiful"

pitiful

/ˈpɪt.ɪ.fl̩/

adjective
comparative pitifuller, superlative pitifullest
1. (now rare) Feeling pity; merciful.
  Quotations
  Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.
  c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, [Act II, scene iii]
  Straightway, he now goes on to make a full confession; whereupon the mariners became more and more appalled, but still are pitiful.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley
2. So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity.
3. Of an amount or number: very small.
adverb
comparative more pitiful, superlative most pitiful
1. (colloquial, dialect) In a pitiful manner; pitifully; piteously; pathetically.
  Quotations
  ‘She followed ’em, cryin’ pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall[.]’
  1906, Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill, London: Penguin Books, published 1994, page 194

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