Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Arousing or capable of arousing sympathetic sadness and compassion: "The old, rather shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic” ( John Galsworthy).
- adj. Arousing or capable of arousing scornful pity.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Expressing or showing passion; passionate.
- Full of pathos; affecting or moving the feelings; exciting pity, sorrow, grief, or other tender emotion; affecting: as, a pathetic song or discourse; pathetic expostulation.
- In anatomy, trochlear: in designation of or reference to the fourth crania1 nerve.
- n. A trochlear or pathetic nerve; a patheticus.
- Trochlear: in reference to the superior oblique muscle.
- n. Same as patheticus, 2.
Wiktionary
- adj. Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion.
- adj. Arousing scornful pity or contempt, often due to miserable inadequacy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. obsolete Expressing or showing anger; passionate.
- adj. Affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. inspiring mixed contempt and pity
- adj. inspiring scornful pity
- adj. deserving or inciting pity
Etymologies
- From Latin patheticus, from Ancient Greek παθητικός (pathetikos, "subject to feeling, capable of feeling, impassioned"), from παθητός (pathetos, "one who has suffered, subject to suffering"), from πάσχω (paskho, "to suffer"). (Wiktionary)
- French pathétique, from Late Latin pathēticus, from Greek pathētikos, sensitive, from pathētos, liable to suffer, from pathos, suffering. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I mean, the security guard who actually finally spotted her, heard what he called a pathetic little whimper.”
“What's pathetic is that so many well-meaning young Portlanders buy his line of hype.”
“I'd call it pathetic, but it's probably better to reserve that term for Anita Kumar's behavior in the press room at the most recent Virginia Governor's debate ...”
“What's pathetic is how the republicans are continuously able to get away with spreading lies and misinformation.”
“Still scaring the old people – how pathetic is that?”
“He claims he named his anti-HCR bill after Paul Revere. mary lacewing, just how pathetic is that?”
Think Progress » Pataki says he ‘misspoke’ in arguing that RomneyCare is ‘unconstitutional.’
“In time, I achieved a certain pathetic proficiency; I mastered a Bourrée by Bach, a couple of simple pop songs, and found myself a mate.”
A Conversation with Chris Stewart, author of Driving Over Lemons
“C'mon, just how pathetic is this unionist response to Scotland finally waking up and asserting herself?”
“When you go back and look at the Sonyia Sotomayor situation, the Republicans blasted the pick before they even knew who it was going to be, how pathetic is that .....”
Obama to unveil new Afghanistan strategy after Thanksgiving, source says
“Even in my dreams I can't get anything right -- how pathetic is that?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pathetic’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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G[r]eek
A collection of words found in English that are either purely Greek or have Greek etymology.
Please add with caution and certainty. Will be regularly updated by me.etymology, philosophy, laconic, disharmony, patriarchic, archaic, phlogiston, aether, aeon, angel, arachnid, rhythm and 346 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
On with their heads!
Words that make other words with the addition of one letter at the beginning. The resulting words are tagged "behead".
men, his, yes, any, iota, limb, aged, laid, land, lead, read, word and 327 more...
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the brothers
factotem, extrapolation, antinomy, antenome, pusillanimous, capons, caftan, pejorative, cropper, cowl, perfidious, fichu and 138 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 2434 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 3027 more... -
Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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Words I have to learn
exasperate, felony, weld, fraud, worksheet, ransom, rehearse, preliminary, offshore, parole, infamous, sieve and 436 more...
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Chainlink's Words
hat, opalescent, opal, emerald, sapphire, scythe, carnival, calliope, brilliant, awesome, feather, fantastic and 268 more...
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-ic ending
Words ending in ic, tic or nic.
clastic, elastic, caustic, spastic, frantic, lactic, moronic, ironic, panic, doric, diplomatic, bureaucratic and 202 more...
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Apples to Apples: Green Cards
A complete list of the green cards (adjectives) from the popular word game.
absurd, addictive, adorable, aged, American, ancient, animated, annoying, appetizing, arrogant, awesome, awkward and 237 more...
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curligirli0's Words
crapulous, swish, shiatsu, zen, xenoglossy, nincompoop, loquacious, pianissimo, onomatopoeia, imperturbable, silky, hosanas and 379 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 1008 more...
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Coruscatingly what?
List of adjectival terms, from aggressive to zippered, paired in printed materials with the adverb coruscatingly, identified by a simple query to Google Search (Books).
...propaedeutic...aggressive, angry, articulate, astringent, aware, beautiful, big, blinding, bright, brilliant, brutal, cerebral and 93 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pathetic.
Alphabetized 1) Ridiculous
2) From Greek "Pathos = Pain", which causes pain. Jan 5, 2011