I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
It’s a great pity that
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It’s a great pity that none of his poems survive.
take pity on sb
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She stood feeling lost until an elderly man took pity on her.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
great
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It was a great pity that the team was not allowed to perform at other displays during the anniversary year.
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It's a great pity she can't be included.
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For myself, a great pity .
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This by-law has never been repealed and it is a great pity that it is not still rigidly enforced.
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He says all the signs are it could soon be as bad as last year, which would be a great pity .
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It is a great pity that such reactionary ideas are still harboured by the Labour party in Havering and elsewhere.
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If you can go again this is no problem, but for the once-only visitor it is a great pity .
■ NOUN
self
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We have often a choice: self pity or spiritual power through suffering.
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Although we do feel sympathy for Blanche she seems to wallow in her self pity .
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True enough, Morrissey disregarded his original bedsit self pity and began to write from the third person.
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By precisely wallowing in her own guilt and self pity she then needs to heighten her self esteem.
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There is a lot of regret and self pity in his words.
■ VERB
feel
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I find that few fishkeepers use white worm nowadays and I feel that is a pity .
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Charles even felt a twinge of pity for Mrs Sweet.
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A jury felt enough pity for the mayor to find him guilty of a mere misdemeanor rather than a felony.
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For Alex he felt nothing but pity .
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He felt a struggling pity and regret.
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She felt a stab of pity .
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He introduced feeling , compassion and pity to compensate for the loss of the comic element.
seem
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To some romantics this may seem a pity .
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Though to her, it must seem rather a pity .
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On consideration, it seemed a pity to waste this beautiful weather immured in her cabin.
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It seemed a pity to disturb them as we went about our daily chores.
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It just seemed a pity that Norfolk should have no more appetising soft fruit.
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It seemed a pity to waste the unused oxygen in the little chamber, but there was no purpose in waiting.
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It seemed a pity to wake Jacqui.
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It's just that it seems a pity for him to reveal his identity.
take
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Finally, J. got tired of my everlasting complaints, took pity on me and made me a small electric fire.
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Maybe they took pity on me, but they were all very nice.
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The Nonconforming preachers took pity on the poor people left behind and ministered to them in their distress.
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Nevertheless, the new mayor of the town, Don Bernardo, takes pity on Jacinta.
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Please take pity on me and write!
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On whom I think the world ought to take a little pity .
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When I tried I found I couldn't, but Bri took pity on me and we spent hours playing cards.
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The woman with whom we boarded took pity on me and I worked in the house with her.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an object of pity/desire/ridicule etc
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A spendthrift with a regular, secure income is an object of desire among bankers.
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Because of this, a household obliged to sponsor many feasts gains no prestige, but becomes rather an object of pity.
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He left Downing Street in 1963 almost an object of ridicule, condemned in Gibbonian terms as the symbol of national decay.
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Mitch's image alone does not make clear that he will be mocked rather than taken seriously as an object of desire.
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She became an object of ridicule.
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Unfortunately Piggy had been demoted to an object of ridicule by this point in the book so nobody listened to him.
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Yet he is held up as an object of ridicule and loathing throughout the land.
pitying look/smile/glance
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The other smiled at him a pitying smile.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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I felt such pity for that you girl sitting alone in the bus station.
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I have no pity for people who lie and get caught.
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It's a civil war. They don't want our pity , they need our help.
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She was full of pity for the little boy with no one to love and care for him.
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When I returned to school, my classmates looked at me with pity in their eyes.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A pity the author only got the respect she deserved after her untimely death.
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A jury felt enough pity for the mayor to find him guilty of a mere misdemeanor rather than a felony.
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Even at nine years old, I thought it was a pity the Druitt women wrinkled up so early.
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He looked up and saw Sylvia looking at him with apprehension and pity .
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I felt an unusual twinge of pity for him and reached out and clasped one of his hands in mine.
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It is a pity , for much of the pleasure of carp fishing is this tuning-in of a highly developed hunting instinct.
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More often auctions are not reviewed; this is a pity , since the management of markets in art deserves scrutiny.
II. verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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He felt pity for Marla out there all by herself in some little nowhere town.
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I pity anyone who has to live with Rick.
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I don't want you to pity me - I just want you to help me.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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He knew that he had served Zeus well and that he had done right to pity mortals in their helplessness.
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I had pitied her up there alone, never going out in the evenings, without friends.
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Lucy is much to be pitied.
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On the ballot Tuesday should be the question: Which Bay baseball team do you pity the most?
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She could not apologize, but she could still pity .
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She would never allow him a reason to pity her again, to hold her in contempt.