making people feel sympathy可怜的,令人同情的
The refugees arriving at the camp had pitiful stories to tell.抵达营地的难民都有令人同情的故事可讲。
C2 used to say that you consider something to be very bad or not satisfactory or not enough糟糕的;令人不满意的;不足的
a pitiful state of affairs糟糕的事态
The amount of time and money being spent on researching this disease is pitiful.花费在研究该疾病上的时间和金钱少得可怜。