pitiful vs sad

pitiful

adj
  • So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity. 

  • Of an amount or number: very small. 

adv
  • In a pitiful manner; pitifully; piteously; pathetically. 

sad

adj
  • Causing sorrow; lamentable. 

  • Soggy (to refer to pastries). 

  • Of colours: dark, deep; later, sombre, dull. 

  • Appearing sorrowful. 

  • Feeling sorrow; sorrowful, mournful. 

  • Poor in quality, bad; shameful, deplorable; later, regrettable, poor. 

  • Unfashionable; socially inadequate or undesirable. 

How often have the words pitiful and sad occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )