Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
piteous, pitiable, pitiful (adjs.)
Piteous (pronounced PIT-ee-uhs) means “capable of arousing pity or compassion”: The wretched refugees were a piteous sight. Pitiful (pronounced PIT-i-ful) is only a partial synonym. (The sense of pitiful meaning “full of pity [for others]” is now obsolete.) Pitiful and pitiable (pronounced PIT-ee-uh-bul) also mean “deserving or worthy of pity,” but both have an edge of “deserving scorn or contempt too”: His efforts to win promotion were inept and pitiable [pitiful].
