deplorable
Syllables: de·plor·a·ble/dɪˈplɔːɹəbl̩//dəˈplɔɹəb(ə)l/
deplorable adjective: to be felt sorrow for; worthy of compassion; lamentable.
Adjective
deplorable (comparative more deplorable, superlative most deplorable)
- To be felt sorrow for; worthy of compassion; lamentable.
- We were all saddened by the deplorable death of his son.
- [T]he storie of / Your most deplorable fortune at the first warmde mee / With more then modest heates, but since I saw you / I am all fire, and shall turne cyndars, yf / You showe not mercie to mee.1631 May 17 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Philip Massinger, Believe as You List: A Tragedy (Early English Poetry, Ballads, and Popular Literature of the Middle Ages. […]; XXVII), London...
- Synonyms:
- deplorate, pathetic, atrabiliary, atrabilious, depressing, distressing, grievous, heartbreaking, heartrending, miserable
- Deserving strong condemnation; shockingly bad, wretched.
- Poor children suffer permanent damage due to deplorable living conditions and deplorable treatment by law enforcement.
- Poor children are often accused of having deplorable manners, when they are, in fact, simply responding to society in ways that mirror how society treats them.
- Synonyms:
- damnable, scornworthy
Noun
deplorable (plural deplorables)
- A person or thing that is to be deplored.
- [W]hat better is an old fellow, mauled with rheumatism and other deplorables.1828 April 10 (date written), Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 10 April 1828]”, in David Douglas, editor, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott […], volume II, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1890, →OCLC...
- [H]eralding, this season, an end of the most awful of all apparel abominations, that most despicable of all deplorables, the ankle sock.1970, Harold Hayes, editor, Esquire, volume 74, Chicago, Ill.: Esquire, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 183, column 1
- A supporter of Donald Trump.
- He [Donald Trump] did not say who “the guys” were—but [John Maguire] Dowd knew he meant the Trump base, the crowds at his rallies, the Fox News watchers, the deplorables.2018, Bob Woodward, Fear: Trump in the White House, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 355
- Trump's fate, [Steve] Bannon declared, rested with the deplorables, who had to be brought to the kind of fearful emotional pitch that would get them to the polls.2019 June 4, Michael Wolff, “McCain, Woodward, Anonymous”, in Siege: Trump Under Fire, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN
deplorable meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
deplorable in Tamil
- இரங்கத்தக்க, குறை கூறத்தக்க, வருந்தத்தக்க
deplorable in Bengali
- শোচনীয়, অত্যন্ত খারাপ, অনুশোচনাযোগ্য অবস্থা, নিন্দনীয়, নৈতিকভাবে অত্যন্ত খারাপ, অগ্রহণযোগ্য
deplorable in Malayalam
- സങ്കടകരമായ, ദയനീയമായ, പരിതാപാർഹമായ
Examples of deplorable in a sentence
- O hard-hearted, and deplorable Tovvn of Manſoul, hovv long vvilt thou love thy ſinful, ſinful ſimplicity, and ye fools delight in their ſcorning?1682, John Bunyan, “[The Summons It Self]”, in The Holy War, Made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the...
- [T]ho' my Caſe vvas deplorable enough, yet I had great Cauſe for Thankfulneſs, and that I vvas not driven to any Extremities for Food; but rather Plenty, even to Dainties.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam]...
- The condition of the Creeks and Cherokees, to which I have already alluded, sufficiently corroborates the truth of this deplorable picture.1835, Alexis de Tocqueville, “The Present, and Probable Future Condition of the Three Races which Inhabit the Territory of the United...
- Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing.1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 23:
Synonyms of deplorable
- pathetic
- atrabiliary
- atrabilious
- depressing
- distressing
- grievous
- heartbreaking
- heartrending
- lamentable
- mournful
15 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of deplorable
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more deplorable |
| superlative | most deplorable |
| Noun | |
| plural | deplorables |
Origin of deplorable
The adjective is borrowed from French déplorable (“lamentable, regrettable”), or from its etymon Late Latin dēplōrābilis + English -able (suffix meaning ‘relevant to, suitable to’). Dēplōrābilis is derived from Latin dēplōrō (“to bemoan, complain about; to bewail, lament, deplore”) + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’); while dēplōrō is from dē- (intensifying prefix) + plōrō (“to cry out; to complain; to lament, deplore”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)- (“to flow; to swim”)). By surface analysis, deplore + -able. The noun is derived from the adjective. Noun sense 2 refers to a campaign speech by the American politician and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (born 1947) during the 2016 United States presidential election calling half of the supporters of her Republican opponent Donald Trump (born 1946) a “basket of deplorables”.
Words formed from deplorable
Questions about deplorable
- What does deplorable mean?
- Deplorable means to be felt sorrow for; worthy of compassion; lamentable.
- What is deplorable in Tamil?
- Deplorable in Tamil is இரங்கத்தக்க, குறை கூறத்தக்க, வருந்தத்தக்க. See Deplorable meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use deplorable in a sentence?
- O hard-hearted, and deplorable Tovvn of Manſoul, hovv long vvilt thou love thy ſinful, ſinful ſimplicity, and ye fools delight in their ſcorning?
- What part of speech is deplorable?
- Deplorable can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce deplorable?
- Deplorable is pronounced /dɪˈplɔːɹəbl̩/ (UK).
Words near deplorable in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deplorable (page history and authors); deplorable (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deplorable (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deplorable (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Rho9998-deplorable.wav, En-us-deplorable.ogg.
Cite this entry: “deplorable.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deplorable. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.