Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Piteous \Pit"e*ous\, a. [OE. pitous, OF. pitos, F. piteux. See
   {Pity}.]
   1. Pious; devout. [Obs.]

            The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation.
                                                  --Wyclif.

   2. Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate;
      tender. ``[She] piteous of his case.'' --Pope.

            She was so charitable and so pitous.  --Chaucer.

   3. Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable;
      lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case.        --Spenser.

            The most piteous tale of Lear.        --Shak.

   4. Paltry; mean; pitiful. ``Piteous amends.'' --Milton.

   Syn: Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful;
        sad; wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful;
        compassionate. -- {Pit"e*ous*ly}, adv. --
        {Pit"e*ous*ness}, n.

Source : WordNet®

piteous
     adj : deserving or inciting pity; "a hapless victim"; "miserable
           victims of war"; "the shabby room struck her as
           extraordinarily pathetic"- Galsworthy; "piteous appeals
           for help"; "pitiable homeless children"; "a pitiful
           fate"; "Oh, you poor thing"; "his poor distorted
           limbs"; "a wretched life" [syn: {hapless}, {miserable},
            {misfortunate}, {pathetic}, {pitiable}, {pitiful}, {poor},
            {wretched}]