Talk:deplorable

Is it really acceptable to use a modern, living, active political figure in the example sentence?

RFV discussion: September 2016–May 2017
"To be felt sorrow for; worthy of compassion." The given citation could easily belong to the more common sense 1. Equinox ◑ 19:19, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Not direct evidence, but apparently the original French meaning is actual this, so if borrowed from French it may have had the same meaning at least to start with. Perhaps try some 18th and 19th century uses of 'deplorable' to see. Renard Migrant (talk) 20:53, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
 * sense 2: "pitiable, contemptible", but no usage citations. DCDuring TALK 21:40, 14 September 2016 (UTC)


 * Might be archaic, then? Chambers gives three senses: (i) lamentable, causing great regret; (ii) sad; (iii) hopelessly bad. (ii) is unhelpfully vague! Equinox ◑ 18:33, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Archaic might be right, though obsolete might be better, but we still need citations. DCDuring TALK 23:41, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
 * I have found citations for a sense "pitiable" (which seems a simpler definition with approximately the same meaning as the one under challenge). One is from Robinson Crusoe. In that work, I also found a citation for the first definition. It occurred to me that the very same situation could be deplorable in both senses, one focusing on a deficiency in a responsible party, the other on the regrettable result. DCDuring TALK 00:20, 16 September 2016 (UTC)


 * RFV passed. —Μετάknowledge discuss/deeds 23:56, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

RFV discussion: December 2021
“ A Trumpist conservative, in reference to a 2016 speech by calling half of 's supporters a "".” I’d like to see evidence that the word is routinely used with this sense, apart from having been used in that speech and in news articles reporting about that speech. — SGconlaw (talk) 04:25, 13 December 2021 (UTC)
 * This was relatively easy to cite. WordyAndNerdy (talk) 06:33, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 01:44, 23 December 2021 (UTC)