very unfortunate in condition or circumstances; miserable; pitiable.
2.
characterized by or attended with misery and sorrow.
3.
despicable, contemptible, or mean: a wretched miser.
4.
poor, sorry, or pitiful; worthless: a wretched job of sewing.
Origin: 1150–1200; Middle English wrecchede.See wretch, -ed3
Related forms
wretch·ed·ly, adverb
wretch·ed·ness, noun
un·wretch·ed, adjective
Synonyms 1. dejected, distressed, afflicted, woeful, woebegone, forlorn, unhappy. 2.Wretched,miserable,sorry refer to that which is unhappy, afflicted, or distressed. Wretched refers to a condition of extreme affliction or distress, especially as outwardly apparent: wretched hovels. Miserable refers more to the inward feeling of unhappiness or distress: a miserable life. Sorry applies to distressed, often poverty-stricken outward circumstances; but it has connotations of unworthiness, incongruousness, or the like, so that the beholder feels more contempt than pity: in a sorry plight. 3. base, vile.