pathetic

[ puh-thet-ik ]
See synonyms for pathetic on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. causing or evoking pity, sympathetic sadness, sorrow, etc.; pitiful; pitiable: Conditions at the refugee camp were far more pathetic than anything our training had prepared us for.

  2. Informal. miserably or contemptibly inadequate: In return for our investment we get a pathetic three percent interest. The carpenter we hired is pathetic.

  1. Archaic. pertaining to, caused by, or affecting the emotions: pathetic outbursts.

Origin of pathetic

1
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Middle French pathétique or from Late Latin pathēticus, from Greek pathētikós “capable of emotion, impassioned, sensitive,” equivalent to pathēt(ós) “subject to suffering; one who has suffered; subject to external influence or change; (in medicine) diseased” (derivative of páschein “to suffer”) + -ikos adjective suffix; see -ic
  • Rarely pa·thet·i·cal .

Other words for pathetic

Other words from pathetic

  • pa·thet·i·cal·ly, adverb
  • pa·thet·i·cal·ness, noun
  • hy·per·pa·thet·ic, adjective
  • hy·per·pa·thet·i·cal·ly, adverb
  • qua·si-pa·thet·ic, adjective
  • qua·si-pa·thet·i·cal·ly, adverb
  • un·pa·thet·ic, adjective
  • un·pa·thet·i·cal·ly, adverb

Words that may be confused with pathetic

Words Nearby pathetic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pathetic in a sentence

  • Tressan fell suddenly to groaning and wringing his hands a pathetic figure had it been less absurd.

    St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini
  • The observer might well remain perplexed at the pathetic discord between human work and human wants.

  • It is curious to note children's first manifestations of a sense of the pathetic and the comic as represented in art.

    Children's Ways | James Sully
  • He was fond of the pathetic, but the humorous moved him most, and his lively gifts were welcome wherever we went.

  • In spite of his brilliant career, Bernadotte must ever remain one of the most pathetic figures in history.

    Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-Pattison

British Dictionary definitions for pathetic

pathetic

/ (pəˈθɛtɪk) /


adjective
  1. evoking or expressing pity, sympathy, etc

  2. distressingly inadequate: the old man sat huddled in front of a pathetic fire

  1. British informal ludicrously or contemptibly uninteresting or worthless: the standard of goalkeeping in amateur football today is pathetic

  2. obsolete of or affecting the feelings

pl n
  1. pathetic sentiments

Origin of pathetic

1
C16: from French pathétique, via Late Latin from Greek pathetikos sensitive, from pathos suffering; see pathos

Derived forms of pathetic

  • pathetically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012