deplorable

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from French déplorable,^[2][3][4][5] from déplorer (“to deplore”); the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English allow also borrowed from Late Latin deplorabilis.^[6][7][5] The OED instead forms it from the Latin verb and the suffix -ble, and notes that Cotgrave's dictionary of 1611 did not yet have the French word.^[8] The verb is Latin dēplōrō (“to bewail, lament, give up for lost”), formed from dē- (“entirely”) and plōrō (“to weep, cry out”), which is of unknown origin.^[5][8] It is the adjective of deplore.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be lamented; very sad, grievous, wretched: 1612, in a title by E. Grimeston.^[8][2] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the 1640s it was also used of people, "pitiable, wretched", a sense now obsolete,^[8][5] and in 1684 once for "given up as hopeless", like the Latin verb.^[8] Johnson (1755) noted a looser, jocular use for "contemptible, despicable", as in deplorable nonsense;^[9][5] the Shorter Oxford calls "objectionable, scandalous, exceedingly bad" the usual sense now.^[6] As a noun, deplorables, deplorable ills, is recorded from 1828 in Walter Scott's journal,^[8] 1830 in Etymonline.^[5] Etymonline notes the political use for the ministry of Charles X of France in the 1820s, and a revival in 2016, when Hillary Clinton applied it to supporters of Donald Trump, some of whom took it up as a badge.^[5]

Timeline

• 1612 – lamentable, grievous, wretched.^[8][2]
• 1642 – of persons, pitiable, wretched (obsolete by 1682).^[8]
• 1684 – given up as hopeless (rare).^[8]
• 1755 – in Johnson, used loosely for contemptible.^[9]
• 1828 – noun, in the plural, deplorable ills.^[8] Etymonline dates the noun to 1830.^[5]
• 2016 – noun, in the plural, in American politics, of supporters of Donald Trump.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very bad; deserving strong disapproval: The state of the hospital kitchens was deplorable.^[10][6][2]
2. Lamentable, regrettable or wretched: a deplorable shortage of teachers.^[10][2][8]

Noun

1. (usually plural) A deplorable thing or person.^[8][5]

Word family

• deplorableness
• deplorably

Related words

• deplore

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins