'Pathetic' definitions:
Definition of 'pathetic'
(from WordNet)
adjective
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" [syn: hapless, miserable, misfortunate, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, poor, wretched]
adjective
Inspiring mixed contempt and pity; "their efforts were pathetic"; "pitiable lack of character"; "pitiful exhibition of cowardice" [syn: pathetic, pitiable, pitiful]
adjective
Inspiring scornful pity; "how silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years"- Dashiell Hammett [syn: pathetic, ridiculous, silly]
Definition of 'Pathetic'
From: GCIDE
- Pathetic \Pa*thet"ic\ (p[.a]*th[e^]t"[i^]k), a. [L. patheticus, Gr. paqhtiko`s, fr. paqei^n, pa`schein, to suffer: cf. F. path['e]tique. See Pathos.]
- 1. Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- 2. Affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos; as, a pathetic song or story. "Pathetic action." --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
- No theory of the passions can teach a man to be pathetic. --E. Porter. [1913 Webster]
- Pathetic muscle (Anat.), the superior oblique muscle of the eye.
- Pathetic nerve (Anat.), the fourth cranial, or trochlear, nerve, which supplies the superior oblique, or pathetic, muscle of the eye.
- The pathetic, a style or manner adapted to arouse the tender emotions. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'pathetic'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- affecting,
- affective,
- afflictive,
- beggarly,
- beneath contempt,
- bitter,
- bleak,
- cheap,
- cheerless,
- cheesy,
- comfortless,
- common,
- contemptible,
- crummy,
- deplorable,
- depressing,
- depressive,
- despicable,
- discomforting,
- dismal,
- dismaying,
- distressful,
- distressing,
- doleful,
- dolorific,
- dolorogenic,
- dolorous,
- dreary,
- emotional,
- emotive,
- feeble,
- gaudy,
- gimcracky,
- grievous,
- heartrending,
- inadequate,
- joyless,
- lamentable,
- mean,
- measly,
- meretricious,
- miserable,
- mournful,
- moving,
- painful,
- paltry,
- petty,
- piddling,
- piteous,
- pitiable,
- pitiful,
- plaintive,
- poignant,
- poor,
- puny,
- regrettable,
- rubbishy,
- rueful,
- sad,
- saddening,
- scrubby,
- scruffy,
- scummy,
- scurvy,
- scuzzy,
- shabby,
- sharp,
- shoddy,
- sore,
- sorrowful,
- sorry,
- stirring,
- touching,
- tragic,
- trashy,
- trumpery,
- two-for-a-cent,
- two-for-a-penny,
- twopenny,
- twopenny-halfpenny,
- uncomfortable,
- valueless,
- vile,
- woebegone,
- woeful,
- worthless,
- wretched