1Pity or sorrow — a feeling of compassion or pathos felt toward someone or something.
彼の身の上を知って、深い哀れを感じた。
Learning of his circumstances, I felt a deep sense of pity.
その物語には人生の哀れが静かに描かれている。
The story quietly depicts the pathos of life.
廃墟となった街を見て、哀れを誘われた。
Seeing the town reduced to ruins stirred a feeling of sorrow in me.
2Pitiable, pitiful, or miserable — a na-adjective describing a wretched state, used as 哀れな〜.
戦争で親を失った哀れな子どもたちがたくさんいた。
There were many pitiable children who had lost their parents in the war.
捨てられて痩せ細った哀れな犬を保護した。
I took in a pitiful, emaciated dog that had been abandoned.
あの哀れな姿を見ると、胸が締めつけられる。
Seeing him in that pitiful state makes my heart ache.
3An archaic, literary interjection expressing deep pity or being moved — like "alas"; typically read with the old kana あはれ.
あはれ、若き命がまた一つ散っていった。
Alas, yet another young life has passed away.
あはれ、栄華を誇った都もいまは廃墟となり果てた。
Alas, the capital that once boasted such splendor has now fallen to ruin.