deplorable

Definition

To be deplored.

Etymology

PIE word *de The adjective is borrowed from French déplorable (“lamentable, regrettable”), or from its etymon Late Latin dēplōrābilis + English -able (suffix meaning ‘relevant to, suitable to’). Dēplōrābilis is derived from Latin dēplōrō (“to bemoan, complain about; to bewail, lament, deplore”) + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’); while dēplōrō is from dē- (intensifying prefix) + plōrō (“to cry out; to complain; to lament, deplore”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)- (“to flow; to swim”)). By surface analysis, deplore + -able. The noun is derived from the adjective. Noun sense 2 refers to a campaign speech by the American politician and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (born 1947) during the 2016 United States presidential election calling half of the supporters of her Republican opponent Donald Trump (born 1946) a “basket of deplorables”.

Example Sentences

• "We were all saddened by the deplorable death of his son."
• "[T]he storie of / Your most deplorable fortune at the first warmde mee / With more then modest heates, but since I saw you / I am all fire, and shall turne cyndars, yf / You showe not mercie to mee."
• "[T]heſe ſeaſons are defined by the motions of the Sun; […] vvhereas remaining in one place theſe diſtinctions had ceaſed, and conſequently the generation of all things depending on their viciſſitudes; making in one hemiſphere a perpetuall Summer, in the other a deplorable and comfortleſſe VVinter, […]"

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