woeful

or wo·ful

[ woh-fuhl ]

/ ˈwoʊ fəl /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR woeful ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

full of woe; wretched; unhappy: a woeful situation.

affected with, characterized by, or indicating woe: woeful melodies.

of wretched quality; sorry; poor: a woeful collection of paintings.

Origin of woeful

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at woe, -ful

SYNONYMS FOR woeful

3 unpromising, unlikely, dreadful, awful.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR woeful ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM woeful

woe·ful·ly, adverb woe·ful·ness, noun un·woe·ful, adjective un·woe·ful·ly, adverb

un·woe·ful·ness, noun

Words nearby woeful

woden, wodge, wodzislaw slaski, woe, woebegone, woeful, woesome, wof, woffington, wog, woggle

Example sentences from the Web for woeful

And its woeful end is a reminder that the U.S. has few good options in its attempts to bring American prisoners home.

Did U.S. Policy Get Luke Somers Killed? |Shane Harris |December 6, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
It operated a fleet of very old airplanes and had such a woeful safety record that FAA inspectors wanted to ground it.

Malaysia Airlines Is Going Down |Clive Irving |August 1, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
In much of the DRC, roads are in a woeful state of disrepair, and in Goma, the conditions are especially dire.

Victims No More: Congo’s Badass Women Mechanics |Nina Strochlic |June 6, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The Romanov tsars imposed rigid serfdom just as that woeful institution was fading almost everywhere else.

Russian History Is on Our Side: Putin Will Surely Screw Himself |P. J. O’Rourke |May 11, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

I sat in a suite at the Savoy hotel, in privilege, resenting the woeful ratbag I once was who, for all his problems, had drugs.

There's a Reason That Addicts Say Yes to Drugs |Megan McArdle |March 7, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Nathalie wept on in woeful lamentation, feeling with the untriedness of youth that she was a great martyr.

Blue Robin, the Girl Pioneer |Rena I. Halsey
This would serve to impress the reader with the woeful vicissitudes of sublunary things.

Love Letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Volume 2 of 2 |Nathaniel Hawthorne
He was deathly pale, dripping with water, and in his bonny blue eyes was a wild, woeful look that made my blood run cold.

The Abbot's Ghost, Or Maurice Treherne's Temptation |A. M. Barnard
A brief interval of silence followed her woeful declaration.

Marjorie Dean College Freshman |Pauline Lester
Arrived at his starting-point, he dropped Jeremiah to the ground, who slowly rose, in a woeful plight.

Miser Farebrother, Volume I (of 3) |Benjamin Leopold Farjeon

British Dictionary definitions for woeful

woeful

/ (ˈwəʊfəl) /

adjective

expressing or characterized by sorrow

bringing or causing woe

pitiful; miserable a woeful standard of work

Derived forms of woeful

woefully, adverb woefulness, noun

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

woeful

or wo·ful

adjective

Origin of woeful

SYNONYMS FOR woeful

OTHER WORDS FROM woeful

Words nearby woeful

Example sentences from the Web for woeful

British Dictionary definitions for woeful

adjective

Derived forms of woeful

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

woeful

or wo·ful

adjective

Origin of woeful

SYNONYMS FOR woeful

OTHER WORDS FROM woeful

Words nearby woeful

Words related to woeful

Example sentences from the Web for woeful

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []) .push({}); British Dictionary definitions for woeful

adjective

Derived forms of woeful

British Dictionary definitions for woeful