Pitiful
King James Dictionary [1]
Pit'Iful, a. See Pity. Full of pity tender compassionate having a heart to feel sorrow and sympathy for the distressed. James 5 . 1 Peter 3 This is the proper sense of the word.
1. Miserable moving compassion as a sight most pitiful a pitiful condition. 2. To be pitied for its littleness or meanness paltry contemptible despicable.
That's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.
3. Very small insignificant.
Webster's Dictionary [2]
(1): ( a.) Full of pity; tender-hearted; compassionate; kind; merciful; sympathetic.
(2): ( a.) Piteous; lamentable; eliciting compassion.
(3): ( a.) To be pitied for littleness or meanness; miserable; paltry; contemptible; despicable.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [3]
pit´i - fool : As found in Scripture, means "full of pity"; it is expressed by רחמני , raḥămānı̄ , from raḥămı̄m (plural of raḥam ), "bowels," "compassion" ( Lamentations 4:10 the King James Version, its only occurrence in the Old Testament), "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children." In James 5:11 , we have the beautiful saying, The Lord is very pitiful (the Revised Version (British and American) "full of pity") and of tender mercy," where "very pitiful" is the translation of polúsplagchnos , literally, "of many bowels," a word which does not occur elsewhere; it might be translated "large-hearted" or "tender-hearted." In Ecclesiasticus 2:11, we have "The Lord, is ... very, pitiful" ( oiktirmṓn ); eúsplagchnos , well-hearted," "compassionate," "full of pity," occurs in 1 Peter 3:8 , "Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous," the Revised Version (British and American) "loving as brethren, tenderhearted, humble-minded." The word is found in The Prayer of Manasseh 7; Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Zeb 8 2.
