What's the difference between indignation and pity?

Indignation


Definition:

  • (n.) The feeling excited by that which is unworthy, base, or disgraceful; anger mingled with contempt, disgust, or abhorrence.
  • (n.) The effect of anger; punishment.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If the villagers fail to respect the social code, by not using her new name or by reminding her of her indignity, they have to perform a reparative ritual, at which a goat is sacrificed.
  • (2) "This unfair and unequal treatment means that children with disabilities – already so disadvantaged – suffer further indignities.
  • (3) Asked by the BBC whether he would apologise or comply with a demand from Miliband for him to resign, he said: "Well, if someone can explain anything that I said as factually incorrect of course I would consider it...People are slightly spinning and loading into what I said in a way to get false indignation."
  • (4) The ALA collects information on which books are objected to and reports on prominent recurring themes that tend to generate moral or ideological indignation.
  • (5) We accept on behalf of our client that public interest demands nothing but total indignation and condemnation from all media reporting but such reporting ought not to persist at the expense of undermining Mr Barklie’s right to a fair trial.” His lawyers said the Metropolitan police had confirmed ”that arrangements were in hand to take the investigation to the next stage”.
  • (6) Not since Novak Djokovic beat him 6-1, 6-0 in the semi-final of the 2007 Miami Masters – when Murray was injured – has the Scot had to suffer such indignity.
  • (7) However indignant Hollande may have been about a glossy celebrity magazine revealing the details of his affair with a French actress – and he said his indignation was "total" – whatever reflections and considerations were going through the presidential grey matter on Tuesday morning, the idea of sitting down and drafting his resignation was almost certainly not among them.
  • (8) The Duchess of Cambridge, due to give birth in the next couple of weeks, will not suffer the indignities of, say, Mary of Modena in 1688, forced to give birth in front of an audience of 200 and still accused of a bit of business with bedpan and changeling.
  • (9) Last year, in a continuing campaign to improve policing , he produced a book brimming with indignation.
  • (10) Imagine the dizzy swoon of indignation deprivation: what's upsetting is there's nothing to get upset about.
  • (11) And we are increasing the number of single rooms in the NHS to ensure no patient suffers this indignity when it is unjustified."
  • (12) But the State Department's indignation over the leaks of allegedly valuable secrets was, and remains, preposterous.
  • (13) 2.42am BST 6 mins Jamaica indignant as a corner is awarded when they thought they were getting a foul.
  • (14) The human pressure cooker could not contain his indignation at having to watch Channel 4 news reporter, Fatima Manji , cover the tragic attack in Nice.
  • (15) Righteous indignation was tweeted and retweeted, celebrities piled on the pressure, pundits sharpened their quills.
  • (16) I cried at the time, tears of sadness for her, guilt for me (I should be able to do more), and indignation and anger about the unfairness of it all.
  • (17) It was classic Loach territory: exploitation, the indignity of unemployment, the resilience and humour of working-class people.
  • (18) When Elinor and Marianne debate the importance of money in the company of Edward, Marianne reacts indignantly to Elinor's declaration that happiness has much to do with "wealth": "'Elinor, for shame!'
  • (19) It was found that in a somewhat cyclical succession, patient deviance was followed by the staff's spontaneous moral indignation.
  • (20) For the next five years at least that is an indignity he will not have to worry about.

Pity


Definition:

  • (n.) Piety.
  • (n.) A feeling for the sufferings or distresses of another or others; sympathy with the grief or misery of another; compassion; fellow-feeling; commiseration.
  • (n.) A reason or cause of pity, grief, or regret; a thing to be regretted.
  • (v. t.) To feel pity or compassion for; to have sympathy with; to compassionate; to commiserate; to have tender feelings toward (any one), awakened by a knowledge of suffering.
  • (v. t.) To move to pity; -- used impersonally.
  • (v. i.) To be compassionate; to show pity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The voters don’t do gratitude, self-pitying politicians are wont to moan.
  • (2) With grievous amazement, never self-pitying but sometimes bordering on a sort of numbed wonderment, Levi records the day-to-day personal and social history of the camp, noting not only the fine gradations of his own descent, but the capacity of some prisoners to cut a deal and strike a bargain, while others, destined by their age or character for the gas ovens, follow "the slope down to the bottom, like streams that run down to the sea".
  • (3) "); hopeless self-pity ("Nobody said anything to me about Billy ... all day long") and rage ("You want to put a bench in the park in Billy's name?
  • (4) Indeed, mainstream economics is a pitifully thin distillation of historical wisdom on the topics that it addresses.
  • (5) Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever?” It is there to remind him that the dots are worth fighting for.
  • (6) Last year, Amnesty International described the world’s response as “pitiful” and earlier this week, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants called on the EU to deliver a proper resettlement programme.
  • (7) April's family had to endure the "spectacle of your hypocritical sympathy for their loss and of your tears", the judge told Bridger, saying any tears were motivated purely by self-pity.
  • (8) And this is the mainspring of so many of his stories, novellas, and his one novel, Beware of Pity : the clash between propriety and desire.
  • (9) It’s actually a pity that there’s now a break because I wanted to continue playing games,” said the Italian.
  • (10) In his final fight, against the journeyman boxer Kevin McBride, he was a pitiful figure - slumped in a corner, legs splayed, unable or unwilling to stand himself up.
  • (11) Other negative emotions – self-pity, guilt, apathy, pessimism, narcissism – make it a deeply unattractive illness to be around, one that requires unusual levels of understanding and tolerance from family and friends.
  • (12) He said it was a “pity” that the UK prime minister “wasn’t able to express the British position at the press conference with Donald Trump standing next to her”.
  • (13) As the turbulent commercial radio sector enters another new phase, Park wants to sweep away the thinking that has left too many of his colleagues wallowing in self-pity, and turn his fire on a familiar target.
  • (14) Broadly defined, this sort of behaviour involves procrastination, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, obstructionism, self-pity and a tendency to create chaotic situations.
  • (15) It is a pity we did not take our chances,” the Ukraine coach, Mykhailo Fomenko, said.
  • (16) "This depressing morning has now got me questioning my pitiful existence," sobs James Dodge.
  • (17) Foreign dignitaries were invited to attend for the first time and it is a pity that from Europe only Javier Solana chose to take the offer up.
  • (18) Men convicted of rape are often pitied in the media and, like Evans, quickly vault back to positions of fame .
  • (19) But after the strange denials that this old, sick man is dying I want to talk not with pity but of his power.
  • (20) Staff here dread the welfare reform bill, waiting for debts, arrears, evictions and pitiful hardship to wash up on their doorstep.