pathetic

Rarely pa·thet·i·cal

[puh-thet-ik]

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.

   Synonyms: sad, tragic, piteous, plaintive

2. Informal.,  miserably or contemptibly inadequate.

   In return for our investment we get a pathetic three percent interest. The carpenter we hired is pathetic.

3. Archaic.,  pertaining to, caused by, or affecting the emotions.

   pathetic outbursts.

   Synonyms: emotional, tender, touching

pathetic

/ pəˈθɛtɪk /

adjective

1. evoking or expressing pity, sympathy, etc

2. distressingly inadequate

   the old man sat huddled in front of a pathetic fire

3. informal,  ludicrously or contemptibly uninteresting or worthless

   the standard of goalkeeping in amateur football today is pathetic

4. obsolete,  of or affecting the feelings

plural noun

1. pathetic sentiments

Other Word Forms

• pathetically adverb
• patheticalness noun
• hyperpathetic adjective
• hyperpathetically adverb
• quasi-pathetic adjective
• quasi-pathetically adverb
• unpathetic adjective
• unpathetically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of pathetic¹

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; -ic

Word History and Origins

Origin of pathetic¹

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

Example Sentences

After many months of being conspicuously pathetic, I have, to my great surprise, advanced to not terrible.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

This led to a sharp rebuke from Eritrea's Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel, who dismissed the rhetoric as "too crass and pathetic to sell".

Read more on BBC

"Whereas you are a pathetic and poisonous little man that doesn't care about Scotland, doesn't understand Scotland, and that's why Scotland will utterly reject you."

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There’s a look in his eye like a hungry mutt staring at a butcher shop window: pathetic and moony and flummoxed by how to get what he wants.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The right had become fatally un-hip, trapped in a pathetic, imaginary vision of the past.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• deplorable 
• feeble 
• heartbreaking 
• miserable 
• pitiful 
• poignant 
• sorry 
• woeful