What does pathetic mean?

Definitions for pathetic
pəˈθɛt ɪkpa·thet·ic

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word pathetic.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. hapless, miserable, misfortunate, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, poor, wretchedadjective

    deserving or inciting pity

    "a hapless victim"; "miserable victims of war"; "the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic"- Galsworthy; "piteous appeals for help"; "pitiable homeless children"; "a pitiful fate"; "Oh, you poor thing"; "his poor distorted limbs"; "a wretched life"

  2. pathetic, pitiable, pitifuladjective

    inspiring mixed contempt and pity

    "their efforts were pathetic"; "pitiable lack of character"; "pitiful exhibition of cowardice"

  3. pathetic, ridiculous, sillyadjective

    inspiring scornful pity

    "how silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years"- Dashiell Hammett

Wiktionary

  1. patheticadjective

    Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion.

    The old man's pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man's heart.

  2. patheticadjective

    Arousing scornful pity or contempt, often due to miserable inadequacy.

  3. Etymology: From patheticus, from παθητικός, from παθητός, from παθείν.

ChatGPT

  1. pathetic

    Pathetic is an adjective that describes something as causing or evoking pity, sympathetic sadness, sorrow, or a similar emotion. It can also refer to something being woefully inadequate or unimpressive, often in a way that is pitiful or contemptible.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Patheticadjective

    expressing or showing anger; passionate

  2. Patheticadjective

    affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos; as, a pathetic song or story

  3. Etymology: [L. patheticus, Gr. paqhtiko`s, fr. paqei^n, pa`schein, to suffer: cf. F. pathtique. See Pathos.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Pathetic

    -al, pa-thet′ik, -al, adj. showing passion: affecting the tender emotions: causing pity, grief, or sorrow: touching: (anat.) trochlear.—adj. Pathemat′ic, pertaining to emotion.—adv. Pathet′ically.—ns. Pathet′icalness; Path′etism, animal magnetism; Path′etist, one who practises this.—The pathetic, the style or manner fitted to excite emotion. [Gr. pathētikos, subject to suffering.]

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of pathetic in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of pathetic in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of pathetic in a Sentence

  1. John McEnroe:

    They say it to me before I have a chance to say it to them, it's sort of pathetic in a way, and exhilarating in a way, that people remember.

  2. Helen Keller:

    The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.

  3. Gerald Graham:

    The government's response has been really pathetic. They were not there. Why did they take so long to act.

  4. Henry Louis Mencken:

    A man's women folk, whatever their outward show of respect for his merit and authority, always regard him secretly as an ass, and with something akin to pity. His most gaudy sayings and doings seldom deceive them they see the actual man within, and know him for a shallow and pathetic fellow. In this fact, perhaps, lies one of the best proofs of feminine intelligence, or, as the common phrase makes it, feminine intuition.

  5. Adam Scott:

    It's pathetic, i finished par-par-par but just didn't beat the guy that I'm playing today. You've got to close it out like you're trying to win a tournament and that wasn't good enough today.

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Translations for pathetic

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"pathetic." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/pathetic>.

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