wretched
part of speech
adjective (wretched, more wretched, most wretched); adverb (wretchedly); noun (wretch)
meaning for a pupil
1) Very unhappy, ill or miserable: «I felt wretched with flu.» tree →
2) Very poor or bad in quality: «They lived in wretched huts.» tree →
3) (informal, annoyed) Used to show you are cross with something: «This wretched computer won't work!» tree →
4) Wretched can also describe a person who is wicked and deserves scorn. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories, a wretched character is suffering — Toad feels wretched in his dungeon, and poor people in old books live in wretched conditions. In sense 3 it is a mild, annoyed word, not a swear word. In the Bible and old hymns, «a wretch like me» (Amazing Grace) means a sinful, unhappy person whom Christians believe God saves.
examples
- Toad felt wretched in his cold cell. tree →
- The wretched dog has eaten my homework! tree →
- The refugees lived in wretched tents. tree →
- I felt wretched after staying up so late. tree →
- «Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.» tree →
- Mole felt wretched when he lost his way in the Wild Wood. tree →
note
Sounds like «RETCH-id», two syllables; the w is silent. A wretch is a miserable or bad person.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «wretched» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.