deplorable

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’).^[1] Dēplōrābilis is derived from Latin dēplōrō (“to bemoan, complain about; to bewail, lament, deplore”)^[2] + -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.^[2] 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”.^[3]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈplɔːɹəbl̩/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dəˈplɔɹəb(ə)l/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: de‧plor‧a‧ble

deplorable (comparative more deplorable, superlative most deplorable)

1. To be deplored.
   1. To be felt sorrow for; worthy of compassion; lamentable.

      Synonyms: (obsolete) deplorate, pathetic; see also Thesaurus:lamentable

      We were all saddened by the deplorable death of his son.

      • 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, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii:

        [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.

      • 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, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 291:

        [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, […]

      • 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 […], →OCLC, page 94:

        O hard-hearted, and deplorable Tovvn of Manſoul, hovv long vvilt thou love thy ſinful, ſinful ſimplicity, and ye fools delight in their ſcorning?

      • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, pages 128–129:

        [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.

      • 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 […], →OCLC, page 368:

        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.

      • 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, […], →OCLC, pages 306–307:

        The condition of the Creeks and Cherokees, to which I have already alluded, sufficiently corroborates the truth of this deplorable picture.

      • 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, →OCLC, page 19:

        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.

      • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 23:

        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.

   2. Deserving strong condemnation; shockingly bad, wretched.

      Synonyms: damnable, scornworthy

      Poor children suffer permanent damage due to deplorable living conditions and deplorable treatment by law enforcement.

      Poor children are often accused of having deplorable manners, when they are, in fact, simply responding to society in ways that mirror how society treats them.

      • 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, →OCLC, page 254:

        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.

        The spelling has been modernized.

      • 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, […], →OCLC, page 413:

        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.

deplorable (plural deplorables)

1. A person or thing that is to be deplored.
   • 1828 April 10 (date written), Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 10 April 1828]”, in David Douglas, editor, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott […], volume II, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1890, →OCLC, page 157:

     [W]hat better is an old fellow, mauled with rheumatism and other deplorables.

   • 1970, Harold Hayes, editor, Esquire, volume 74, Chicago, Ill.: Esquire, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 183, column 1:

     [H]eralding, this season, an end of the most awful of all apparel abominations, that most despicable of all deplorables, the ankle sock.

3. (specifically, US politics, derogatory, neologism) A supporter of Donald Trump.
   • 2018, Bob Woodward, Fear: Trump in the White House, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 355:

     He [Donald Trump] did not say who “the guys” were—but [John Maguire] Dowd knew he meant the Trump base, the crowds at his rallies, the Fox News watchers, the deplorables.

   • 2019 June 4, Michael Wolff, “McCain, Woodward, Anonymous”, in Siege: Trump Under Fire, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:

     Trump's fate, [Steve] Bannon declared, rested with the deplorables, who had to be brought to the kind of fearful emotional pitch that would get them to the polls.

   • 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, →ISBN, page 265:

     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.

• “deplorable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “deplorable”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Late 15th century, borrowed from Latin dēplōrābilis.

deplorable m or f (plural deplorables)

1. deplorable (worthy of compassion)

Borrowed from Late Latin dēplōrābilis, equivalent to deplorar +‎ -able.

• IPA^(key): /deploˈɾable/ [d̪e.ploˈɾa.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: de‧plo‧ra‧ble

deplorable m or f (masculine and feminine plural deplorables)

1. deplorable

• “deplorable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28