Webster's English Dictionary

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pity

1. pity \'pit-e-\ n [ME pite, fr. OF pite`, fr. L pietat-, pietas piety, 
   p]ity, fr. pius pious 1a: sympathetic sorrow for one suffering, distressed, 
   or unhappy : COM PASSION 1b: capacity to feel pity  2: something to be 
   regretted  SYMPATHY: PITY implies tender or sometimes slightly contemptuous 
   sorrow for one in misery or distress; COMPASSION implies pity coupled with 
   an urgent desire to aid or to spare; COMMISERATION suggests pity expressed 
   outwardly in exclamations, tears, words of comfort; RUTH implies pity 
   coming from a change of heart or a relenting; CONDOLENCE applies chiefly to 
   formal expression of grief to one who has suffered loss; SYMPATHY implies a 
   power to enter into another's emotional experiences of any sort SYN syn 
   COMPASSION, COMMISERATION, RUTH, CONDOLENCE, 
2. pity vt : to feel pity for to feel pity