Definition of "wretch"
wretch1
noun
plural wretches
An unhappy, unfortunate, or miserable person.
Quotations
The four unhappy wretches labouring under sentence of banishment were freed from their fetters, to rejoin their former society; and three days given as holidays to every convict in the colony.
1789, Watkin Tench, chapter 14, in The Expedition to Botany Bay, archived from the original on 3 March 2011
An unpleasant, annoying, worthless, or despicable person.
Quotations
[…] Alaeddin ate and drank and was cheered and after he had rested and had recovered spirits he cried, "Ah, O my mother, I have a sore grievance against thee for leaving me to that accursed wight who strave to compass my destruction and designed to take my life. Know that I beheld Death with mine own eyes at the hand of this damned wretch, whom thou didst certify to be my uncle; […]
1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 532”, in Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […]
How I cursed my selfishness and the folly that had kept me lingering by Ayesha's side while my dear boy lay dying! Alas and alas! how easily the best of us are lighted down to evil by the gleam of a woman's eyes! What a wicked wretch was I!
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887
wretch2
verb