pathetic
702
3.9
- adjective
- /pəˈθɛtɪk/
- Offensive
:
patético
- To her, we must have looked pathetic, with our travel-shabby clothes and our snow-pale, exhausted faces.
- seem pathetic
- most pathetic
- particularly pathetic
But we are in pathetic times and, and that's sad.
- But we are in pathetic times and, and that's sad.
- Check out this pathetic display from Grabian.
- That's oh, wow, that's a that's kind of a pathetic little mirror there.
- Why make a pathetic virtue of a terrible necessity?
- So they wanted to give him the humblest, meagrest, most pathetic title they could think of.
- And that's a pretty, that's a pretty pathetic amount.
- The response to COVID has been worse than pathetic and it's driven by philosophy.
- I'd be like Chase, just sad, pathetic, you know?
Examples
-
At some point, certainly, the marriage of William and Anna became a pathetic misery.
Academic text (1999) -
Probably sounds pathetic, but I got scared.
-
It's sad, it's pathetic, but it's very normal.
-
You are the most pathetic little dog ever.
-
Her teacher's salary is less than what I make, which is pathetic.
-
Pamela, looking drawn and pathetic, finds this moment to walk into the studio.
Fiction book (1991) -
The stray dog looked so pathetic that I had to bring it some food.
-
Her excuses were pathetic and did nothing to justify her behavior.
-
Seeing the child cry over his lost toy was truly pathetic and pulled at my heartstrings.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Needing pity because they are hurt, sad, or unlucky
54
3.9
So bad or weak that people feel angry and look down on it
7
6.1
Making people feel sorry for someone or something
3
7.9
Making people feel sorry because someone is suffering
Antonyms
Compounds
How Pitiable
Surface Forms
Morphology
pathetic = pathos (semi-transparent) = pathet + ic
Formed by the productive adjective suffix '-ic' from Greek pathos, but the root is a Greek combining form (not a common standalone English base) and the modern colloquial sense has shifted toward contempt, so derivation is not fully transparent for learners.
Etymology
Pathetic comes from the Greek root pathos, which means 'feeling' or 'suffering'. You can see the same root in sympathy and empathy, so something pathetic makes you feel pity. That's why today pathetic often means 'sad' or 'pitiful' and can also say that something seems weak or not worthy of respect.