pathetically
Americanadverb
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Graham was, rhetorically, almost pathetically in Trump’s thrall, heaping flattery onto a president who’d once posted Graham’s phone number online for mass harassment.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026
In opposition to the efficient-market hypothesis, which holds that stock prices reflect all available information, Haugen argued that “the pathetically inefficient market doesn’t seem to have a clue as to what is going on.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
This applies at the other end of the demographic scale as well: Americans have a pathetically low life expectancy for a developed country.
From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2025
“We compare, I think, pathetically, to the greatest generation,” said Butler.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2024
“I can’t stop Gawaine saying filings,” retorted Sir Bors hotly, desperately, pathetically, furiously, and with tenor.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
