How to Use pity in a Sentence

pity

1 of 2 noun
  • I felt deep pity for the lost dog.
  • She has had a hard life and deserves your pity.
  • He didn't live to see his daughter grow up, and that's a pity.
  • Their tone held no plea, nor wish for pity.
    — Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
  • There was little pity from adults.
    — John Blake, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2025
  • The pity party playlist has run dry.
    — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 21 Feb. 2026
  • Leonora’s smile held pity in it.
    — Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2025
  • Sighs of pity rose around the gallows.
    — George Packer, The Atlantic, 6 Nov. 2025
  • Julie took some pity on me and offered to play a game of cards.
    — A. J. Jacobs, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2023
  • And this is the pity of Chaplin.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
  • They’ve even been repped by the same agency, for pity’s sake.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 13 Jan. 2026
  • The man has been mayor for less than a week, for pity’s sake!
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 7 Jan. 2026
  • The look was met not with ridicule or pity but with something even worse.
    — Kaitlyn Greenidge, Harper's BAZAAR, 5 Feb. 2023
  • Here’s what autism isn’t, Gross says – something to be scared of or pity.
    — Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2023
  • To feel pity is to question the judgment of God.
    — Claudia Roth Pierpont, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
  • And that second one came on the heels of a 10-hour flight, for pity’s sake.
    — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 7 Dec. 2025
  • Poems of pity and letters home of love were just as frequent as rage.
    — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 15 June 2022
  • So much sorrow and so much pity, even as the Germans are gone.
    — Rachel Kushner, Harper’s Magazine , 25 May 2022
  • There is a very human flaw of feeling pity on ourselves.
    — Juan A. Ramírez, Vogue, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Rhaenys doesn’t have much pity given what happened to Laenor.
    — Omar L. Gallaga, Washington Post, 10 Oct. 2022
  • They shouldn’t be protected out of pity, but out of value.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 3 Nov. 2025
  • That would be a pity, for each minute, each second of life is a miracle.
    — Ellen McGirt, Fortune, 16 Dec. 2022
  • Hoffman can’t help but cut me off in horrified pity.
    — J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 27 Aug. 2025
  • There's no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear.
    — Alexis Jones, PEOPLE.com, 15 July 2022
  • Tomi doesn’t want anybody’s pity and doesn’t see his life as a failure.
    — Marta Balaga, Variety, 20 Sep. 2025
  • There wasn’t a hint of patronizing or pity.
    — Scott Maxwell, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 May 2026
  • There’s so much self-pity, anger and expectations that haven’t been met.
    — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 16 June 2022
  • Not used enough in today’s society, more’s the pity.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025
  • Walking through such a space scrawling in a notebook with a felt-tip earned glances full of pity.
    — Arkansas Online, 23 Oct. 2022
  • This would be a pity for nature but also a major loss for the growers.
    — Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 16 Feb. 2024

pity

2 of 2 verb
  • I pity anyone who has to work at that place.
  • I always pity the people who have to work in this freezing weather.
  • But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
    — Kevin Sherrington, Dallas Morning News, 8 Jan. 2026
  • There’s no room to pity the gazelles who must tiptoe around him.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 2 Dec. 2023
  • There are people who are hurt by things in life that are easy to name and be pitied for.
    — Lea Carpenter, Time, 19 July 2019
  • Why pity her for making her own bed and now being forced to lie in it?
    — Ashlee Marie Preston, Teen Vogue, 19 Mar. 2018
  • Pity the poor billionaires who are about to take the oath of office.
    — Charles Duhigg, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2017
  • Homos were perhaps to be pitied but preferably to be locked away.
    — Kevin Riordan, Philly.com, 1 Nov. 2017
  • And both sides have reason to pity themselves as the losers of the system.
    — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 23 Jan. 2018
  • In a follow-up post, Woods urged well-wishers not to pity her.
    — Toyin Owoseje, CNN, 21 Nov. 2019
  • Or, even better, don’t pity Carlson.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 23 Apr. 2026
  • But do not pity the poor hangman with no one to kill; his self-pity is more than sufficient.
    — New York Times, 21 Apr. 2022
  • Nobody forced me to pity myself and pick at my food for a semester.
    — Amber Rambharose, Glamour, 16 Aug. 2017
  • Instead, we are ridiculed and pitied globally.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 11 Apr. 2026
  • For a moment, waiting for the horn to sound, Legacy pitied her.
    — Melody Chiu, PEOPLE.com, 26 July 2019
  • The Bengals pitied the vanquished and took their foot off the gas in the second half.
    — Dennis Manoloff, cleveland.com, 1 Oct. 2017
  • Hesse said the narrative veterans need to be pitied needs to be shifted.
    — Tracy Neal, arkansasonline.com, 11 Nov. 2023
  • While Killmonger could be pitied, Klaue is nothing but the worst.
    — Michael Sangiacomo, cleveland.com, 13 Feb. 2018
  • So my grandmother knew that if we weren’t circumcised, people would pity us.
    — Ryan Lenora Brown, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 Aug. 2021
  • For this reason everybody pitied them no less than the sufferers.
    — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2020
  • Stay-at-home mothers are equally lauded and adored, pitied and derided.
    — Redbook, 6 June 2016
  • Lenù’s best friend, Lila, shows no signs of development; for this, Lenù seems to pity her.
    — Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2022
  • That said, no one should pity those people whispering their fears to CNN.
    — Michael Arceneaux, The Root, 24 July 2017
  • But there was no need to pity this busy bride, whose apron would soon be traded for Dior Haute Couture.
    — Rob Haskell, Vogue, 16 July 2017
  • Rather than rallying around him, top Democrats lashed out at Clinton for his self-pitying tone.
    — Steve Kornacki, NBC News, 5 Oct. 2019
  • So pity the ordinary property owners who have to pay the taxman two times every year.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 30 Mar. 2026
  • So pity the actress who would attempt to tackle the same role a quarter-century later, right?
    — Yvonne Villarreal, latimes.com, 19 June 2018
  • Love Story, by turns, elevates its lovers, pities them, humanizes them.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2026
  • But people in their 30s still sorting by popularity are more to be pitied than feared.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 17 May 2023
  • Alex is lonely and self-pitying after Jessica dumped him for Justin again.
    — Ariana Romero, refinery29.com, 24 Aug. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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