Pity is the feeling of sadness and sympathy you have for someone who is suffering or in a difficult situation. When you feel pity for someone, you recognize that they're having a hard time, and you feel sorry for them. You might feel pity for a classmate who twisted their ankle and has to sit out of recess, or for a lost dog wandering alone in the rain.

Pity focuses on someone's misfortune or weakness. It's different from empathy, where you try to understand what someone else is feeling, or compassion, where you want to help them. Pity often keeps some distance: you feel bad for someone rather than feeling bad with them. Sometimes people don't want to be pitied because it can make them feel weak or inferior, like when someone says “don't pity me” after something goes wrong.

Pity can also mean to feel this way about someone. You might pity a friend who has to miss a fun event because they're sick.

The word can also describe something disappointing or regrettable. If your baseball game gets rained out, someone might say “what a pity!” meaning it's unfortunate or too bad. When you say “it's a pity that we couldn't go to the museum,” you're expressing disappointment about a missed opportunity.

In older texts, you might see someone asking for pity, meaning they're asking for mercy or kindness from someone more powerful than them.