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Preparing your learning path…Feeling deeply unhappy, miserable, or physically ill.
Stress the first syllable; pronounce the second syllable id.
He felt wretched after hearing the diagnosis.
The actress looked wretched despite trying to smile.
Wretched with homesickness, the student called every evening.
Often predicative: feel/look/be wretched. This sense describes someone’s condition, not the quality of an object.
Feeling wretched refers to severe discomfort, sadness or sickness. It is stronger than feeling a little low and can describe either emotional or bodily distress.
After weeks of illness, someone who feels wretched feels ...
Workers endured wretched conditions through the bitter winter.
Our hotel was wretched; even the heating had failed.
A wretched performance cost the team another victory.
Applied to situations, work, living standards and experiences rather than someone’s feelings.
Compare “I feel wretched” with “We live in wretched conditions”. The former describes misery; the latter judges the circumstances as extremely bad.
Wretched housing conditions are ...
Why does that wretched printer always jam at deadlines?
We missed the train because the wretched lift stalled.
Our plans were ruined by that wretched rain.
Especially British English. This irritated use is normally attributive rather than predicative.
In “that wretched printer”, the speaker is expressing annoyance, not making an objective rating of the printer’s general quality. This use is particularly British.
“That wretched alarm has gone off again!” conveys ...
