pathetic

comparative more pathetic · superlative most pathetic · alternative archaic pathetick · alternative obsolete patheticke · alternative obsolete pathetique

1. Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.

   The child’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart.

   4 more examples

   We have now arrived at one of the most pathetic and glorious events in the history of Israel, one which sanctifies the Lamanite race with the powers of martyrdom, and, by the blood of the victims, washes its garments white from many a former sin.

   1883, George Reynolds, “History of the Book of Mormon: Contents of the Records, II,”, in Contributor

   She held his hand in one of hers, but she too was dozing, and the two made a pretty, or rather a pathetic, picture.

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   There was no hospital, or any accommodation for the sick men. Each mate nursed his fellow, and some strikingly pathetic touches of devotion were shown here and there amongst them.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 150

   [H]e was led away to a private sanitarium for mental disease, while in the newspapers appeared pathetic accounts of his mental breakdown and of the saintliness of his character.

   1908 February 19, Jack London, “The Bishop”, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 188

   Synonyms: pathetisad, pitiable, pitiful, wretched, compassionate, pathetisad, piteous, pitiable

2. Arousing scorn or contempt, often due to miserable inadequacy.

   You can't even run two miles? That’s pathetic.

   3 more examples

   You're almost 26 years old and you still can't hold a real job? That's pathetic.

   Well you'd better think of something because middle-aged tramps aren't cute, they're pathetic.

   2005, In Her Shoes

   Look, I-I hate to sound like Billy Baldwin’s agent, but you can’t just copy everything that ALEC does! It’s pathetic!”

   2014 November 2, Tim Carvell [et al.], “State Legislatures and ALEC”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 23, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO

   Synonyms: disgraceful, shameful, dishonorable, abject, filthy, base, beggarly, blameworthy

3. obsoleteExpressing or showing anger; passionate.

   On a certain Good Friday, in what year we are not told, an especially moving and pathetic sermon was preached in the Cathedral by Father John Texeda, upon the sufferings of our Lord.

   1894, A. M. Clarke, The Life of Saint Francis Borgia, page 95

   Synonyms: mad, seething, agitated, angry, annoyed, apoplectic, bad-tempered, berserk

4. obsoleteanatomyTrochlear.