Definition of "deplorable"
deplorable
adjective
comparative more deplorable, superlative most deplorable
To be felt sorrow for; worthy of compassion; lamentable.
Quotations
[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.
1631 May 17 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Philip Massinger, Believe as You List: A Tragedy (Early English Poetry, Ballads, and Popular Literature of the Middle Ages. […]; XXVII), London: […] [F]or the Percy Society, by Richards, […], published 1849, Act IV, scene ii
[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, […]
1646, Thomas Browne, “A Digression of the Wisdome of God in the Site and Motion of the Sun”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], 6th book, page 291
O hard-hearted, and deplorable Tovvn of Manſoul, hovv long vvilt thou love thy ſinful, ſinful ſimplicity, and ye fools delight in their ſcorning?
1682, John Bunyan, “[The Summons It Self]”, in The Holy War, Made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World. […], London: […] Dorman Newman […]; and Benjamin Alsop […], page 94
[T]ho' my Caſe vvas deplorable enough, yet I had great Cauſe for Thankfulneſs, and that I vvas not driven to any Extremities for Food; but rather Plenty, even to Dainties.
1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, pages 128–129
But the people beheld the deplorable ſituation of their Sovereign vvith inſenſibility; and ſo ſtrong vvas their perſuaſion of her guilt, and ſo great the violence of their indignation, that the ſufferings of their Queen did not, in any degree, mitigate their reſentment, or procure her that ſympathy, vvhich is ſeldom denied to unfortunate Princes.
1759, William Robertson, “Book IV”, in The History of Scotland, during the Reigns of Queen Mary and of King James VI, till His Accession to the Crown of England. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar […], page 368
The condition of the Creeks and Cherokees, to which I have already alluded, sufficiently corroborates the truth of this deplorable picture.
1835, Alexis de Tocqueville, “The Present, and Probable Future Condition of the Three Races which Inhabit the Territory of the United States”, in Henry Reeve, transl., Democracy in America. […], volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, […], pages 306–307
If, however, the early symptoms of insanity be neglected till the brain becomes accustomed to the irregular actions of disease, or till organic changes take place from the early violence of those actions, then the case becomes hopeless of cure. In this situation, in too many cases, the victim of this deplorable malady is cast off by his friends, thrust into a dungeon or in chains, there to remain till the shattered intellect shall exhaust all its remaining energies in perpetual raving and violence, till it sinks into hopeless and deplorable idiocy.
1837, [Samuel B.?] Woodward, quotee, “Asylum for Poor Lunatics at Worcester, Massachusetts”, in Twelfth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Prison Discipline Society, Boston, May, 1837, Boston, Mass.: [Prison Discipline Society]; stereotyped at the Boston Type and Stereotype Foundery, page 19
Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability; [...] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.
1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], page 23
Deserving strong condemnation; shockingly bad, wretched.
Quotations
There are some abuses among us of great consequence, the reformation of which is properly your province; though, as far as I have been conversant in your papers, you have not yet considered them. These are, the deplorable ignorance that for some years hath reigned among our English writers, the great depravity of our taste, and the continual corruption of our style.
1710 October 9 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Jonathan Swift], “Thursday, September 28, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 230; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume III, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, page 254
I assert that the attacks directed against the Bank of the United States, originate in the same propensities which militate against the Federal Government; and that the very numerous opponents of the former afford a deplorable symptom of the decreasing support of the latter.
1835, Alexis de Tocqueville, “The Present, and Probable Future Condition of the Three Races which Inhabit the Territory of the United States”, in Henry Reeve, transl., Democracy in America. […], volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, […], page 413
noun
plural deplorables
(specifically, US politics, derogatory, neologism) A supporter of Donald Trump.
Quotations
The self-image of the deplorables is that of the honest, hardworkin' people of the Christian American heartland and South who have been screwed by Washington, D.C., and the coastal elites since the dawn of time.
2020, Rick Wilson, Running against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump—And Democrats from Themselves, New York, N.Y.: Crown Forum, Crown Publishing Group, page 265