Pathetic

//pəˈθɛtɪk// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.

    "The child’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart."

  2. 2
    Arousing scorn or contempt, often due to miserable inadequacy.

    "You can't even run two miles? That’s pathetic."

  3. 3
    Expressing or showing anger; passionate. obsolete

    "On a certain Good Friday, in what year we are not told, an especially moving and pathetic sermon was preached in the Cathedral by Father John Texeda, upon the sufferings of our Lord."

  4. 4
    Trochlear.
Adjective
  1. 1
    inspiring scornful pity wordnet
  2. 2
    inspiring mixed contempt and pity wordnet
  3. 3
    deserving or inciting pity wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
contemptiblepitifulaffectingaffectiveafflictiveangry

Example

More examples

"We could not bear to listen to the sick child's pathetic cries."

Etymology

From Middle French pathétique, from Latin patheticus, from Ancient Greek παθητικός (pathētikós, “subject to feeling, capable of feeling, impassioned”), from παθητός (pathētós, “one who has suffered, subject to suffering”), from πάσχω (páskhō, “to suffer”).

Related phrases

pathetic fallacypathetic nerveun-pathetichorrible worthlesspitifully sadsad pitiful

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.