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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

wretched.

Characterized by or feeling deep affliction or distress; very miserable.

8 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈɹɛt͡ʃɪd/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɹɛt͡ʃəd/General-American
  1. Characterized by or feeling deep affliction or distress; very miserable.

    I felt wretched after my wife died.
  2. Of an inferior or unworthy nature or social status; contemptible, lowly.

    The street was full of wretched beggars dressed in rags.
  3. Of an insignificant, mean, or poor nature; miserable, paltry, worthless.

    I just lack the fine motor skill. Same reason I'm a grown man who doesn't know how to use a screwdriver without looking like a retard. Oh, I'm wretched.
  4. Of a person, etc.: behaving in a manner causing contempt; base, despicable, wicked.

  5. Of weather: causing much discomfort; very unpleasant; miserable.

  6. Used to express annoyance towards or dislike of someone or something: bloody, damned.

    informal
    Will you please stop playing that wretched trombone!
Where this word comes from

From Middle English wrecched (“(adjective) characterized by or suffering hardship or misfortune, miserable, unfortunate, unhappy; indigent, poor; of low economic or social status, lowly; (noun) miserable person”) [and other forms], from wrecche (“characterized by or suffering hardship or misfortune, miserable, unfortunate, unhappy; indigent, poor; of low economic or social status, lowly; base, contemptible, vile; reprehensible, wicked; miserly, stingy; of little importance, paltry, worthless”) (from Late Old English wrecc, from Old English wreċċa (“an exile, outcast”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“to follow, track; to hunt”)) + -ed (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as wretch (“(obsolete) wretched”, adjective) + -ed (suffix forming adjectives).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.