pities

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of pity.

   It is one of the great pities of his career that he never coached a championship team.

   Among life's quiet pities, she ranked the loss of old friends highest.

   Note

   A plural that only one meaning of pity readily allows. The feeling of sympathy does not usually count up, so the plural belongs to pity as something regrettable: the quiet pities of a life are its regrets and losses, not its acts of compassion. An Early Modern use of pity for piety could also take a plural, but that meaning is now obsolete.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of pity.

   The old woman pities every stray that wanders into her yard.

   He pities those who never had the chance to learn to read.

   Note

   The present-tense form takes its object directly, with no preposition: she pities the stranger, not "pities for" him. In some regional speech the verb works the other way round. The sad sight becomes the subject, so a scene that pities you is one that moves you to compassion. In general usage, keep the person who feels the pity as the subject.

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