A wretch is someone in a miserable, pitiful condition, or someone who behaves in a deeply unworthy way. The word carries a heavy feeling of sadness or disgust.

In classic literature, characters call themselves wretches when they feel guilty or ashamed. In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge calls himself a wretch after seeing how his greed hurt others. The word captures both his misery and his sense that he'd behaved terribly.

You might also hear wretch used more lightly between friends, like calling someone “you little wretch” when they've played a harmless prank. But the word's true weight is serious. It describes someone suffering greatly or someone whose actions deserve contempt.

The adjective wretched means miserable or of very poor quality. A wretched day might involve everything going wrong. Wretched conditions are circumstances that make people suffer. When Fern in Charlotte's Web saves Wilbur from being killed as a runt piglet, she's saving him from a wretched fate.