woeful

adjective

woe·ful ˈwō-fəl

variants or less commonly woful

: full of woe : grievous

woeful prophecies

: involving or bringing woe

: lamentably bad or serious : deplorable

woeful ignorance

woefully

ˈwō-f(ə-)lē

adverb

woefulness

ˈwō-fəl-nəs

noun

Example Sentences

The puppy had woeful eyes. The student's grades were woeful.

Recent Examples on the Web Then Hader found himself, pivoting from woeful to weapon entering Game 3 of the NLCS on Thursday against the Phillies.

Bryce Millercolumnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Oct. 2022 After all, Mishew, who's 25 years old, has started 20 games in his two-year career for the woeful Jaguars, who went 7-13 in his starts.

Martin Frank, USA TODAY, 30 Aug. 2021 The show continues to follow a woeful Los Angeles catering team of Hollywood strivers, and its previous two seasons available to stream on Starz and Hulu.

Kate Aurthur, Variety, 8 June 2022 And that ignores losses like tonight’s, against an absolutely woeful team that has lost seven of nine and lost their second-best player to injury before halftime.

Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 16 Feb. 2022 New England didn’t hold a lead the entire second half against a woeful Cincinnati team that captured a 23-17 win over the Patriots.

BostonGlobe.com, 7 Sep. 2017 Thanks to what public health experts decry as a woeful lack of investment in monkeypox research predating this year’s outbreak, scientists remain uncertain which animals comprise the viral reservoir in Africa.

Benjamin Ryan, NBC News, 7 Oct. 2022 The admission that the software on which HBO Max is built is not up to par is woeful.

Patrick Frater, Variety, 5 Aug. 2022 At a time when the Red Sox’ pitching has been nothing short of woeful, a grim present is accompanied by an uncertain future.

Alex Speier, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Aug. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'woeful.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.