wretch

From Middle English wrecche, from Old English wreċċa (“exile, outcast”), from Proto-Germanic *wrakjô (“exile, fugitive, warrior”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“to track, follow”).

• IPA^(key): /ɹɛtʃ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɛtʃ
• Homophone: retch

wretch (plural wretches)

1. An unhappy, unfortunate, or miserable person.
   • 1742, Henry Fielding, chapter 12, in Joseph Andrews‎:

     The poor wretch, who lay motionless a long time, just began to recover his senses as a stage-coach came by.

   • 1789, Watkin Tench, chapter 14, in The Expedition to Botany Bay‎:

     The four unhappy wretches labouring under sentence of banishment were freed from their fetters, to rejoin their former society; and three days given as holidays to every convict in the colony.

2. An unpleasant, annoying person.
   • 1740, Samuel Richardson, chapter 71, in Pamela‎:

     Swear to me but, thou bold wretch! said she, swear to me, that Pamela Andrews is really and truly thy lawful wife, without sham, without deceit, without double-meaning; and I know what I have to say!

   • 1823, Walter Scott, chapter 32, in Saint Ronan's Well‎:

     I asked that selfish wretch, Winterblossom, to walk down with me to view her distress, and the heartless beast told me he was afraid of infection!

3. (archaic) An exile. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

wretch (third-person singular simple present wretches, present participle wretching, simple past and past participle wretched)

1. Misspelling of retch.

• wretched

• wretch in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• wretch in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• wretch at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “wretch” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.