woeful /ˈwəʊfəl/ adjective4 •Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity.How many woeful widows left to bow / To sad disgrace! — 1595 •Lamentable, deplorable.Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy: This wide and universal theatre Presents more woeful pageants than the scene Wherein we play in. — 1598 •Wretched; paltry; poor.What woful stuff this madrigal would be / In some starv'd hackney sonneteer or me! — 1711 •Bringing calamity, distress, or affliction. formswoefuller · woefullest