From Middle English wrecched [and other forms], from wrecche (from Late Old English wrecc, from Old English wreċċa, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreg-) + -ed.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈɹɛt͡ʃɪd/
• (America) IPA: /ˈɹɛt͡ʃəd/

wretched

1. Characterized by or feeling deep affliction or distress; very miserable.

   Synonyms: dejected, wretchful, Thesaurus:lamentable, Thesaurus:sad

   I felt wretched after my wife died.

   • 1576, George Whetstone, “The Arbour of Vertue, […]”, in The Rocke of Regard, […], London: […] [H. Middleton] for Robert Waley, →OCLC ↗; republished in J[ohn] P[ayne] Collier, editor, The Rocke of Regard, […] (Illustrations of Early English Poetry; vol. 2, no. 2), London: Privately printed, [1867?], →OCLC ↗, page 174 ↗:

     Oh (men forlorne) how wretched is our ſtate, / Whome heaven and earth oppreſſe with heapes of hate!

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene v], page 199 ↗, column 2:

     [W]ho might be your mother / That you inſult, exult, and all at once / Ouer the vvretched?

     A noun use.

   • 1622 May 24 (licensing date), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Prophetesse”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC ↗, Act III, scene i, page 33 ↗, column 2:

     Sir, / vve are no Spinſters; nor, if you look upon us, / ſo vvretched as you take us.

   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC ↗, page 160 ↗, lines 1289–1292:

     Let theſe / Inſnare the vvretched in the toils of lavv, / Fomenting diſcord, and perplexing right, / An iron race!

     A noun use.

   • 1794 May 7, Ann Radcliffe, chapter I, in The Mysteries of Udolpho, a Romance; […], 2nd edition, volume IV, London: […] G. G. and J. Robinson, […], →OCLC ↗, page 12 ↗:

     […] Emily ſtood, ſilent and trembling, vvretched for herſelf and dreading to leave him in this ſtate of mind.

   • 1796, Robert Southey, “Book the Ninth”, in Joan of Arc, an Epic Poem, Bristol: […] Bulgin and Rosser, for Joseph Cottle, […], and Cadell and Davies, and G. G. and J. Robinson, […], →OCLC ↗, pages 346–347 ↗, lines 618–621:

     From thence they came, / VVhere, in the next VVard, a most vvretched band / Groan'd underneath the bitter tyranny / Of a fierce Dæmon; […]

   • 1918, Maxim Gorky, “My Fellow-traveller”, in J. [K.] M. Shirazi [et al.], transl., Creatures that Once were Men […], New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, →OCLC ↗, page 202 ↗:

     Every time the boat was thrown upward, Shakro shrieked wildly. As for me, I felt wretched and helpless, in the darkness, surrounded with angry waves, whose noise deafened me.

2. Of an inferior or unworthy nature or social status; contemptible, lowly.

   The street was full of wretched beggars dressed in rags.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC ↗, page 51 ↗:

     I had been here ſooner, but that, vvretched man that I am! I ſlept in the Arbour that ſtands on the Hillſide; nay, I had notvvithſtanding that, been here much ſooner, but that in my ſleep I loſt my Evidence, and came vvithout it to the brovv of the Hill; and then feeling for it, and finding it not, I vvas forced vvith ſorrovv of heart, to go back to the place vvhere I ſlept my ſleep, vvhere I found it, and novv I am come.

   • 1843 December 18, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC ↗, page 117 ↗:

     From the foldings of its robe, it [the Ghost of Christmas Present] brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.

   • 1865, Thomas Carlyle, “Battle of Torgau”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume VI, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC ↗, book XX, page 135 ↗:

     So I have withdrawn, like a bad little boy, to conceal myself, out of spite, in one of the wretchedest villages in Saxony.

   • 1913, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Letters from the Underworld: Part II: Apropos of the Falling Sleet”, in C[harles] J[ames] Hogarth, transl., edited by Ernest Rhys, Letters from the Underworld (Everyman's Library; no. 654), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Sons; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co., published 1937, →OCLC ↗, section III, page 79 ↗:

     […] Simonov would size me up, and despise me for my wretched vanity and want of spirit; […]

   • 1918, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Notes from Underground: A Novel: Part I: Underground”, in Constance Garnett, transl., White Nights and Other Stories […] (The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky; X), New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC ↗, section I, page 52 ↗:

     My room is a wretched, horrid one in the outskirts of the town.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗, page 287 ↗:

     This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of the casual labourer.

3. Of an insignificant, mean, or poor nature; miserable, paltry, worthless.

   Synonyms: trifling, Thesaurus:insignificant

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC ↗, part III [Nostos], page 598 ↗:

     All those wretched quarrels, in his humble opinion, stirring up bad blood – bump of combativeness or gland of some kind, erroneously supposed to be about a punctilio of honour and a flag, – were very largely a question of the money question which was at the back of everything, greed and jealousy, people never knowing when to stop.

4. Of a person, etc.: behaving in a manner causing contempt; base, despicable, wicked.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:despicable

   • 1667, Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, “The Sixth Vision of Hell”, in R[oger] L['Estrange], transl., The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman […], →OCLC ↗, page 247 ↗:

     But a Devil came in juſt in the God-ſpeed, and told them; Gentlemen Philoſophers, (ſays he) if you vvould knovv the VVretched'ſt, and moſt contemptible thing in the VVorld; It is an Alchymiſt: […]

5. Of weather: causing much discomfort; very unpleasant; miserable.
6. (informal) Used to express annoyance towards or dislike of someone or something: bloody, damned.

   Synonyms: blasted, bleeding

   Will you please stop playing that wretched trombone!

• ratchet (adjective)
• wretch
• wretchful (archaic or obsolete)
• wretchless (obsolete)

• wretchlessly (obsolete)
• wretchlessness (obsolete)
• wretchock (Britain)

• French: misérable
• German: miserabel, sehr schlecht, erbärmlich
• Portuguese: miserável
• Russian: жа́лкий

• German: wertlos
• Portuguese: maldito
• Russian: убогий

• German: erbärmlich