Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Heart-rending; pitiful; deeply sorrowful: Describes something that evokes intense feelings of sadness, pity, or distress, often to the point of being poignant or moving.
   • Earnest and desperate; imploring: Describes a manner of pleading, begging, or lamenting that is full of profound sorrow and urgency.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Tiếng khóc của đứa trẻ nghe rất thảm thiết. (The child's cry sounded very heart-rending.)
  • Cô ấy van nài một cách thảm thiết. (She pleaded in a pitiful/earnest manner.)
  • Câu chuyện về số phận của họ thật thảm thiết. (The story of their fate is truly sorrowful.)

Advanced Usage

• The word is often used to intensify descriptions of sounds (like crying, screaming) or appeals (like begging, requesting), emphasizing the depth of emotion involved.
  • Lời kêu cứu thảm thiết vang lên trong đêm. (A desperate cry for help echoed in the night.)

Variants and Related Words

• Thảm (adj): Sad, tragic, miserable. Often used in compounds like (tragic), (pitiful).
• Thiết tha (adj): Earnest, ardent, passionate. Shares the sense of deep feeling but is not necessarily sorrowful.

Synonyms

• Heart-rending: Causing great sadness or distress.
• Pitiful: Deserving or arousing pity.
• Lamentable: Deplorably bad or unsatisfactory; regrettable.
• Plaintive: Sounding sad and mournful.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Kêu khóc thảm thiết: To wail or cry pitifully.
  • Người mẹ kêu khóc thảm thiết bên thi thể con. (The mother wailed pitifully beside her child's body.)
• Van xin thảm thiết: To beg or implore desperately.
  • Tù nhân van xin thảm thiết để được tha. (The prisoner begged desperately to be spared.)

adj

1. heart-rending