Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Pitiful, miserable, wretched: Describes a state or appearance that evokes pity, sadness, or sympathy due to suffering or poor condition.
   • Humiliating, ignominious, disastrous: Describes a failure, defeat, or outcome that is severe, shameful, and deeply disappointing.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau trận lũ, ngôi làng trông thật thảm hại. (After the flood, the village looked truly pitiful.)
  • Đội bóng của chúng tôi đã thua một cách thảm hại với tỉ số 7-0. (Our football team lost disastrously with a score of 7-0.)
  • Anh ấy xuất hiện với bộ dạng thảm hại sau đêm thức khuya. (He appeared in a wretched state after staying up all night.)
  • Kết quả kinh doanh quý này thật thảm hại. (This quarter's business results are truly dismal.)

Advanced Usage

• "một cách thảm hại": (in a pitiful/disastrous manner) - Often used as an adverbial phrase to emphasize the manner of a negative outcome.

  • Kế hoạch đó đã thất bại một cách thảm hại. (That plan failed in a disastrous manner.)

• "thảm hại đến mức": (so pitiful/disastrous that) - Used to introduce a clause describing the extent of the poor condition or result.

  • Buổi biểu diễn thảm hại đến mức khán giả bỏ về giữa chừng. (The performance was so pitiful that the audience left halfway through.)

Variants and Related Words

• Thảm (adj): Tragic, grievous. Often used in compounds to convey seriousness or tragedy (e.g., - tragedy, - tragic scene).
• Thảm thương (adj): Pitiful, lamentable. A close synonym, often emphasizing the aspect that evokes sorrow and compassion.
• Thê thảm (adj): Miserable, wretched, dire. Slightly stronger, often describing an extremely poor or tragic state.

Synonyms

• Đáng thương: Pitiable, deserving pity.
• Nhục nhã: Humiliating, shameful.
• Thê lương: Dreary, bleak, miserable (often for atmospheres or scenes).
• Tồi tệ: Bad, terrible.

Common Collocations and Phrases

• Thất bại thảm hại: A disastrous/crushing defeat.
• Kết quả thảm hại: Dismal/lamentable results.
• Vẻ mặt thảm hại: A pitiful/wretched look on one's face.
• Thua thảm hại: To lose disastrously.

Notes on Meaning

• The word thảm hại combines thảm (tragic) and hại (harmful), intensifying the sense of a pitiful and damaging state.
• It is used for both concrete states (e.g., a person's appearance) and abstract outcomes (e.g., the result of a match or project).
• The connotation is always negative and strong, implying a level of severity that is noticeable and worthy of criticism or pity.

adj

1. pitiful humiliating, ignominious