Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Pitiful; Heart-rending: Describing a situation, event, or sight that causes profound sadness, sorrow, or pity due to suffering or misfortune.
   • Distressing; Afflicting: Causing emotional pain or grief; deeply upsetting to witness or consider.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Đó là một tai nạn giao thông thương tâm. (That was a pitiful traffic accident.)
  • Cảnh người dân mất nhà sau bão thật thương tâm. (The sight of people losing their homes after the storm is truly heart-rending.)
  • Câu chuyện về đứa trẻ mồ côi rất thương tâm. (The story of the orphaned child is very distressing.)

Advanced Usage

• The word "thương tâm" is often used in formal or literary contexts, such as news reports, documentaries, or narratives, to emphasize the tragic and sorrowful nature of an event.
• It can modify nouns referring to events ( - incident), scenes ( - scene), or stories ( - story).

Variants and Related Words

• Thương cảm (v/adj): to sympathize; sympathetic. Focuses more on the feeling of compassion rather than the cause of it.
  • Chúng tôi thương cảm với hoàn cảnh của cô ấy. (We sympathize with her situation.)
• Đau lòng (adj): heartbreaking, painful to the heart. Similar in meaning but can be used in slightly less formal contexts.
  • Tin đó thật đau lòng. (That news is truly heartbreaking.)

Synonyms

• Pitiful: Deserving or arousing pity.
• Heart-rending: Causing overwhelming distress or sadness.
• Distressing: Causing anxiety, sorrow, or pain.
• Tragic: Extremely sad, often involving death or suffering.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Cảnh thương tâm: A pitiful/heart-rending scene.
  • Phóng viên ghi lại cảnh thương tâm tại hiện trường. (The reporter recorded the heart-rending scene at the site.)
• Vụ việc thương tâm: A pitiful/distressing incident.
  • Cảnh sát đang điều tra vụ việc thương tâm. (The police are investigating the distressing incident.)

adj

1. pitiful