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Lame vs Wretched - What's the difference?

lame | wretched |

As a noun lame

is sea.

As an adjective wretched is

very miserable; sunk in, or accompanied by, deep affliction or distress, as from want, anxiety, or grief; calamitous; woeful; very afflicting.

lame

English

(wikipedia lame)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)
  • Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
  • Moving with pain or difficulty on account of injury, defect or temporary obstruction of a function.
  • a lame leg, arm or muscle
  • (by extension) Hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect.
  • * Barrow
  • a lame endeavour
  • * Shakespeare
  • O, most lame and impotent conclusion!
  • (slang) Unconvincing or unbelievable.
  • He had a really lame excuse for missing the birthday party.
  • (slang) Failing to be cool, funny, interesting or relevant.
  • He kept telling these extremely lame jokes all night.
  • (slang) Strangely corny or sweet to an extent.
  • I told him not to bring me flowers, so he brought a bunch of carrots instead. It was lame but it made me smile.
    Usage notes
    Referring to a person without a disability as “lame” is offensive to many as it suggests a derogatory characterization of the physical condition from which the term was derived.
    Synonyms
    * (sense, unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs) crippled * (moving with difficulty) * (sense) hobbling, limping, inefficient, imperfect * (sense) unconvincing, unbelievable * uncool, unfunny, uninteresting, irrelevant
    Antonyms
    * (sense, unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs) * (moving with difficulty) * (sense) efficient, perfect * (sense) convincing, believable * cool, funny, interesting, relevant
    Derived terms
    * lame duck * lamage * lamebrain * lamely * lameness * lamestream * lame-o

    Verb

    (lam)
  • to cause a person or animal to become lame
  • * 1877', Anna Sewell, ''Black Beauty'': And if you don't want to ' lame your horse you must look sharp and get them [stones stuck in hooves] out quickly.
  • * 1913 ,
  • Now her soul felt lamed in itself. It was her hope that was struck.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) lame, from (etyl) lamina.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A lamina.
  • (in the plural) A set of joined, overlapping metal plates.
  • Etymology 3

    Verb

    (lam)
  • (obsolete) To shine.
  • (Piers Plowman)
    (Webster 1913)

    References

    Anagrams

    * ----

    wretched

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Very miserable; sunk in, or accompanied by, deep affliction or distress, as from want, anxiety, or grief; calamitous; woeful; very afflicting.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1918, author=(w)
  • , title=Creatures That Once Were Men, and other stories, chapter=4 citation , passage=As for me, I felt wretched and helpless, in the darkness, surrounded with angry waves, whose noise deafened me.}}
  • Worthless; paltry; very poor or mean; miserable.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1864, author=(Fyodor Dostoyevsky), title=Notes from Underground, chapter=1
  • citation , passage=My room is a wretched , horrid one in the outskirts of the town.}}
  • *, chapter=17
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.}}
  • * , Episode 16
  • All those wretched quarrels, in his humble opinion, stirring up bad blood, from some bump of combativeness or gland of some kind, erroneously supposed to be about a punctilio of honour and a flag,.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=April 11, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Liverpool 3-0 Man City , passage=Mario Balotelli replaced Tevez but his contribution was so negligible that he suffered the indignity of being substituted himself as time ran out, a development that encapsulated a wretched 90 minutes for City and boss Roberto Mancini. }}
  • (obsolete) Hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked.
  • Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "wretched" is often applied: woman, state, life, condition, creature, man, excess, person, place, world, being, situation, weather, slave, animal, city, village, health, house, town.

    Quotations

    * To what wretched state reserved! Milton * Wretched ungratefulness . Sir Philip Sidney * Wrechet World King Lear

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * wretchedness