How to Use woeful in a Sentence

woeful

adjective
Definition of woefulnext
Synonyms for woefulnext
  • The puppy had woeful eyes.
  • The student's grades were woeful.
  • The Cavs should win both games against the woeful Knicks (27-51).
    — Keith Pompey, Philly.com, 5 Apr. 2018
  • This was a fluke, and Mike Brown’s team will go back to woeful.
    — The Enquirer, 17 Feb. 2022
  • And then his two days here were a tail of two woeful nines.
    — Steve Dimeglio, USA TODAY, 21 May 2022
  • The Bruins have been woeful up front for a long time now.
    — Bruce Feldman, SI.com, 7 Mar. 2018
  • The Toreros were woeful behind the arc, shooting just 3 of 20.
    — Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Mar. 2022
  • The Wolves made a woeful 11 of their 21 attempts in their loss Wednesday to Utah.
    — Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 22 Nov. 2019
  • Las Vegas had a woeful defense in 2020 that pushed the Raiders out of the playoff mix down the stretch.
    — Tim Bielik, cleveland, 5 Sep. 2021
  • The Knicks, of course, have been Knicks-ing in earnest since a woeful start in November.
    — Marc Stein, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2020
  • Alas, that effort soon failed due to the woeful lack of customers.
    — Mike Masterson, Arkansas Online, 10 Apr. 2021
  • The Cavs have two games remaining, both against the woeful New York Knicks.
    — Chris Fedor, cleveland.com, 7 Apr. 2018
  • The woeful New York Knicks have had seven triple-doubles in the last 13 years, and the Jazz can’t get a single one.
    — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 1 Mar. 2021
  • The Ukrainian armed forces were in woeful condition when the war broke out in 2014.
    — Sergey Morgunov, Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2019
  • The woeful Texans showed a pulse and then some against New England, so don’t count them out.
    — Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2021
  • Still, the Tigers' woeful bats struggled to make contact against him.
    — Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 24 Apr. 2021
  • The Packers used a third-round draft pick on Rodgers in April to help fix their woeful return units.
    — Rob Reischel, Forbes, 8 Nov. 2021
  • The admission that the software on which HBO Max is built is not up to par is woeful.
    — Patrick Frater, Variety, 5 Aug. 2022
  • The woeful Texans have scored just eight points in their last three road games — two field goals and a safety.
    — Keven Lerner, sun-sentinel.com, 4 Nov. 2021
  • San Jose, too, looked poised to jump both clubs thanks to an early lead against the woeful L.A. Galaxy.
    — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Oct. 2020
  • With a 3-6 record, the Orioles right-hander appears to be singing the same woeful tune as the rest of the rotation.
    — Katherine Fominykh, baltimoresun.com, 1 July 2018
  • With this woeful season circling the drain, the Chargers will play for pride and little else down the stretch.
    — Jay Paris, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2023
  • The Packers, who struggled to beat the woeful Jaguars 24-20, failed to score on their opening drive for the first time this season.
    — Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 16 Nov. 2020
  • The Pistons allowed 118 points in a loss to the woeful Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.
    — Vince Ellis, Detroit Free Press, 13 Feb. 2018
  • For the second time in nine days, Oregon was run out of the gym amid a woeful performance.
    — oregonlive, 24 Nov. 2021
  • The Bruins should have been able to score 35 points against a woeful Arizona defense.
    — Los Angeles Times, 13 Nov. 2022
  • Indianapolis gave up 360 yards to one of the worst offenses in the NFL, and couldn’t stop the woeful Mills with the game on the line, leading to the loss.
    — The Indianapolis Star, 8 Jan. 2023
  • Las Vegas has won two straight on the road, improving their away record to a still-woeful 2-5.
    — Catena Media, al, 8 Dec. 2022
  • Then again, that’s thanks to seven remaining games (the most in baseball) against the woeful Chicago White Sox … but that’s a topic for another newsletter.
    — Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, 5 Aug. 2024
  • Losing the season’s series (5-8) to woeful Washington didn’t help, especially since the Nationals struggled against the Mets and Phillies, allowing those two clubs to fatten their records.
    — Dan Schlossberg, Forbes, 12 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'woeful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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