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pathetic

adj
/pəˈθɛtɪk/

Etymology

From Middle French pathétique, from Latin patheticus, from Ancient Greek παθητικός (pathētikós, “subject to feeling, capable of feeling, impassioned”), from παθητός (pathētós, “one who has suffered, subject to suffering”), from πάσχω (páskhō, “to suffer”). By surface analysis, path- + -etic.

  1. derived from παθητικός — “subject to feeling, capable of feeling, impassioned”
  2. derived from patheticus
  3. derived from pathétique

Definitions

  1. Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion

    Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.

    • The child’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart.
    • She held his hand in one of hers, but she too was dozing, and the two made a pretty, or rather a pathetic, picture.

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

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

  3. Expressing or showing anger

    Expressing 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.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Trochlear.

The neighborhood

Derived

hyperpathetic, nonpathetic, pathetically, pathetic fallacy, patheticism, pathetic nerve, patheticness, pathetics, telepathetic, un-pathetic

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for pathetic. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA