Pity

n. [O. Eng. pitee, O. Fr. pité, pitie, piteit, N. Fr. pitié, Pr. pietat, It. pietà, Sp. piedad, Pg. piedade, from Lat. pietas, piety, kindness, pity. Cf. PIETY.] 1. The feeling or suffering of one person, excited by the distresses of another; sympathy with the grief or misery of another; compassion or fellow-suffering. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord. Prov. xix. 17. He has no more pity in him than a dog. Shak. Pity is always painful, yet always agreeable. Kames. 2. The ground or subject of pity; cause of grief; thing to be regretted. That he is old, the more is the pity, his white hairs do witness it. Shak. What pity is it That we can die but once to serve our country! Addison. 3. A call for pity. Let’s have no pity, For if you do, here's that shall cut your whistle. Beau. & Fl. ☞ The plural of this word, pities, used in the sense given in No. 2, is sometimes employed in colloquial language, chiefly in the phrase it is a thousand pities. In the other senses, it is very rarely, or almost never, used. I am not prone to weeping, as our sex Commonly are, the want of which vain dew, Perchance, shall dry your pities. Shak. Syn.—Compassion; mercy; commiseration; condolence; sympathy; fellow-suffering; fellow-feeling.—PITY, SYMPATHY, COMPASSION. Sympathy is literally fellow-feeling, and therefore requires a certain degree of equality in situation, circumstances, &c., to its fullest exercise. Compassion is deep tenderness for another under severe or inevitable misfortune. Pity regards its object not only as suffering, but weak, and hence as inferior. And last, and worst to spirit proud, Had borne the pity of the crowd. W. Scott. True love's the gift which God has given To man alone beneath the heaven. It is the secret sympathy, The silver link, the silken tie, Which heart to heart, and mind to mind, In body and in soul can bind. W. Scott. Compassion is that species of affection which is excited either by the actual distress of its object or by some impending calamity which appears inevitable. Cogan.