35 uses
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Definition
very bad
in various senses, including:
- unfortunate or miserable — as in "wretched prisoners sleeping on the cold floor"
- of poor quality — as in "wretched roads"
- morally bad — as in "The wretched woman stole his wallet."
- Or oh! declare, of all the powers above, Is wretched Thetis least the care of Jove?Book 1 (86% in)
- But, oh! relieve a wretched parent's pain, And give Chryseis to these arms again; If mercy fail, yet let my presents move, And dread avenging Phoebus, son of Jove."Book 1 (8% in)
- The feast disturb'd, with sorrow Vulcan saw His mother menaced, and the gods in awe; Peace at his heart, and pleasure his design, Thus interposed the architect divine: "The wretched quarrels of the mortal state Are far unworthy, gods! of your debate: Let men their days in senseless strife employ, We, in eternal peace and constant joy.Book 1 (95% in)
- Now nine long years of mighty Jove are run, Since first the labours of this war begun: Our cordage torn, decay'd our vessels lie, And scarce insure the wretched power to fly.Book 2 (18% in)
- (100) Since earth's wide regions, heaven's umneasur'd height, And hell's abyss, hide nothing from your sight, (We, wretched mortals! lost in doubts below, But guess by rumour, and but boast we know,) O say what heroes, fired by thirst of fame, Or urged by wrongs, to Troy's destruction came.Book 2 (56% in)
- Can wretched mortals harm the powers above, That Troy, and Troy's whole race thou wouldst confound, And yon fair structures level with the ground!Book 4 (11% in)
- And think'st thou not how wretched we shall be, A widow I, a helpless orphan he?Book 6 (76% in)
- Now, in this moment of her last despair, Shall wretched Greece no more confess our care, Condemn'd to suffer the full force of fate, And drain the dregs of heaven's relentless hate?Book 8 (61% in)
- Lo, here the wretched Agamemnon stands, The unhappy general of the Grecian bands, Whom Jove decrees with daily cares to bend, And woes, that only with his life shall end!Book 10 (17% in)
- He shook the sacred honours of his head; Olympus trembled, and the godhead said; "Ah, wretched man! unmindful of thy end!Book 17 (29% in)
- For ah! what is there of inferior birth, That breathes or creeps upon the dust of earth; What wretched creature of what wretched kind, Than man more weak, calamitous, and blind?Book 17 (61% in)
- For ah! what is there of inferior birth, That breathes or creeps upon the dust of earth; What wretched creature of what wretched kind, Than man more weak, calamitous, and blind?Book 17 (61% in)
- Sad tidings, son of Peleus! thou must hear; And wretched I, the unwilling messenger!Book 18 (6% in)
- How wretched, were I mortal, were my fate!Book 18 (12% in)
- How more than wretched in the immortal state!Book 18 (12% in)
- For soon, alas! that wretched offspring slain, New woes, new sorrows, shall create again.Book 18 (18% in)
- One fate the warrior and the friend shall strike, And Troy's black sands must drink our blood alike: Me too a wretched mother shall deplore, An aged father never see me more!Book 18 (55% in)
- What woes my wretched race of life attend!Book 19 (67% in)
- For Peleus breathes no more the vital air; Or drags a wretched life of age and care, But till the news of my sad fate invades His hastening soul, and sinks him to the shades.Book 19 (76% in)
- What though by Jove the female plague design'd, Fierce to the feeble race of womankind, The wretched matron feels thy piercing dart; Thy sex's tyrant, with a tiger's heart?Book 21 (78% in)
- The wretched monarch of the falling state, Distracted, presses to the Dardan gate.Book 22 (79% in)
- O wretched husband of a wretched wife!Book 22 (92% in)
- O wretched husband of a wretched wife!Book 22 (92% in)
- The day, that to the shades the father sends, Robs the sad orphan of his father's friends: He, wretched outcast of mankind! appears For ever sad, for ever bathed in tears; Amongst the happy, unregarded, he Hangs on the robe, or trembles at the knee, While those his father's former bounty fed Nor reach the goblet, nor divide the bread: The kindest but his present wants allay, To leave him wretched the succeeding day.Book 22 (95% in)
- The day, that to the shades the father sends, Robs the sad orphan of his father's friends: He, wretched outcast of mankind! appears For ever sad, for ever bathed in tears; Amongst the happy, unregarded, he Hangs on the robe, or trembles at the knee, While those his father's former bounty fed Nor reach the goblet, nor divide the bread: The kindest but his present wants allay, To leave him wretched the succeeding day.Book 22 (96% in)
- Thus wretched, thus retiring all in tears, To my sad soul Astyanax appears!Book 22 (97% in)
- No—pent in this sad palace, let us give To grief the wretched days we have to live.Book 24 (27% in)
- Add to the slaughter'd son the wretched sire!Book 24 (29% in)
- The sons their father's wretched age revere, Forgive his anger, and produce the car.Book 24 (34% in)
- Or old and helpless, at his feet to fall, Two wretched suppliants, and for mercy call?Book 24 (45% in)
- How oft, alas! has wretched Priam bled!Book 24 (62% in)
- "For him through hostile camps I bent my way, For him thus prostrate at thy feet I lay; Large gifts proportion'd to thy wrath I bear; O hear the wretched, and the gods revere!Book 24 (63% in)
- Though not so wretched: there he yields to me, The first of men in sovereign misery!Book 24 (63% in)
- Cassandra first beholds, from Ilion's spire, The sad procession of her hoary sire; Then, as the pensive pomp advanced more near, (Her breathless brother stretched upon the bier,) A shower of tears o'erflows her beauteous eyes, Alarming thus all Ilion with her cries: "Turn here your steps, and here your eyes employ, Ye wretched daughters, and ye sons of Troy!Book 24 (86% in)
- For thee I mourn, and mourn myself in thee, The wretched source of all this misery.Book 24 (96% in)
There are no more uses of "wretched" in The Iliad by Homer - (translated by: Pope).
Typical Usage
(best examples)