Deplorable means shockingly bad or worthy of strong disapproval. When something is deplorable, it's so terrible that it deserves to be condemned.

The conditions in a neglected animal shelter might be deplorable, meaning the animals are living in filth without proper food or care. A student's deplorable behavior toward a substitute teacher might include rudeness, disrespect, and deliberate disruption. The word carries weight: it suggests something isn't just wrong but disgracefully or shamefully so.

You might hear someone describe a deplorable state of affairs when a situation has become unacceptably bad. A playground left dangerous and broken for months could be in deplorable condition. A person's treatment of others might be called deplorable if they're cruel or unjust in ways that shock people's sense of right and wrong.

When something is deplorable, it's the kind of bad that makes people genuinely upset or angry. Using this word signals that you think something has crossed a line from merely poor to morally or practically unacceptable.