wretched

adj

1. Characterized by or feeling deep affliction or distress; very miserable.

   “I felt wretched after my wife died.”

   “Oh (men forlorne) how wretched is our ſtate, / Whome heaven and earth oppreſſe with heapes of hate!”

   “[W]ho might be your mother / That you inſult, exult, and all at once / Ouer the vvretched?”

   “Sir, / vve are no Spinſters; nor, if you look upon us, / ſo vvretched as you take us.”

   “Let theſe / Inſnare the vvretched in the toils of lavv, / Fomenting diſcord, and perplexing right, / An iron race!”

2. Of an inferior or unworthy nature or social status; contemptible, lowly.

   “The street was full of wretched beggars dressed in rags.”

   “I had been here ſooner, but that, vvretched man that I am! I ſlept in the Arbour that ſtands on the Hillſide; nay, I had notvvithſtanding that, been here much ſooner, but that in my ſleep I loſt my Evidence, and came vvithout it to the brovv of the Hill; and then feeling for it, and finding it not, I vvas forced vvith ſorrovv of heart, to go back to the place vvhere I ſlept my ſleep, vvhere I found it, and novv I am come.”

   “From the foldings of its robe, it [the Ghost of Christmas Present] brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.”

   “So I have withdrawn, like a bad little boy, to conceal myself, out of spite, in one of the wretchedest villages in Saxony.”

   “[…] Simonov would size me up, and despise me for my wretched vanity and want of spirit; […]”

3. Of an insignificant, mean, or poor nature; miserable, paltry, worthless.

   “I just lack the fine motor skill. Same reason I'm a grown man who doesn't know how to use a screwdriver without looking like a retard. Oh, I'm wretched.”

   “All those wretched quarrels, in his humble opinion, stirring up bad blood – bump of combativeness or gland of some kind, erroneously supposed to be about a punctilio of honour and a flag, – were very largely a question of the money question which was at the back of everything, greed and jealousy, people never knowing when to stop.”

4. Of a person, etc.: behaving in a manner causing contempt; base, despicable, wicked.

   “But a Devil came in juſt in the God-ſpeed, and told them; Gentlemen Philoſophers, (ſays he) if you vvould knovv the VVretched'ſt, and moſt contemptible thing in the VVorld; It is an Alchymiſt: […]”

   “A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor.”

5. Of weather: causing much discomfort; very unpleasant; miserable.
6. (informal)Used to express annoyance towards or dislike of someone or something: bloody, damned.

   “Will you please stop playing that wretched trombone!”