Pitiful describes something that makes you feel pity or sadness because it seems inadequate, pathetic, or deserving of sympathy. When you see a pitiful sight, like a shivering stray dog in the rain, your heart goes out to it because the situation seems so sad and unfortunate.

The word can describe things that are literally pitiable: a pitiful cry for help, or someone in pitiful condition after getting lost in the woods. But it also describes things that are so weak or inadequate they're almost embarrassing. If a baseball team loses 20 to 1, you might call their performance pitiful. If someone makes a pitiful attempt at an excuse, they're trying so weakly that it's almost sad to watch.

When you call something pitiful, you're usually expressing disappointment or scorn along with the sadness. A pitiful excuse isn't just sad, it's also obviously insufficient. A pitiful effort means someone barely tried at all. The word carries a sting: nobody wants their work called pitiful because it suggests they fell far short of what was needed or expected.