Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for Pity
pity, n. [ME < OFr < L. pietās, dutifulness, piety.] (webplay: children, fear, painful, poor).
- Empathy; sensitivity to another's affliction; perception of suffering; awareness of pain; desire to relieve another's misery. (496/364, 588/394)
- Condescending compassion; patronizing sympathy. (229/289, 496/364)
- Unfortunate circumstance; regrettable fact; lamentable but unchangeable problem.
- [Fig.] mourning; grief; sorrow; tears of those bereaved.
Return to page 31 of the letter “p”.