Definition of "wretched" []

• In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable: "the wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages” ( George Orwell). (adjective)
• Characterized by or attended with misery or woe: a wretched life. (adjective)
• Of a poor or mean character; dismal: a wretched building. (adjective)
• Contemptible; despicable: wretched treatment of the patients. (adjective)
• Of very inferior quality: wretched prose. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The boys hurrahed vociferously when they left what they called wretched little England; but subsequently Richard held that his having been educated abroad was an incalculable loss to him."
• "Albert wore haircloth next to the skin, and clothed himself with coarse cloth and in wretched garments ...."
• "Great armies of them are toiling now at the building of Ardis, housed in wretched barracks where family life cannot exist, and where decency is displaced by dull bestiality."