| / English Dictionary |
PATHETIC
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Inspiring scornful pity
Example:
how silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years
Synonyms:
pathetic; ridiculous; silly
Classified under:
Similar:
undignified (lacking dignity)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Inspiring mixed contempt and pity
Example:
pitiful exhibition of cowardice
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
contemptible (deserving of contempt or scorn)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Deserving or inciting pity
Example:
a wretched life
Synonyms:
hapless; miserable; misfortunate; pathetic; piteous; pitiable; pitiful; poor; wretched
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)
Derivation:
pathos (a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others)
Context examples:
After Sarah was restored, we still had to break it to the other eight; and it produced various effects upon them of a most pathetic nature.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The girls listened with interest, for the tale was romantic, and somewhat pathetic, as most of the characters died in the end.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
She was so pathetic in her sobbing and bewailing, that I felt as if I had said I don't know what to hurt her.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I laughed all the way downstairs, but it was a little pathetic, also to think of the poor man having to mend his own clothes.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
His bowed head, and her angel-face and filial duty, derived a more pathetic meaning from it than they had had before.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
It is the shadow of pain which touches the young face with such pathetic patience, but Beth seldom complains and always speaks hopefully of 'being better soon'.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
A quick temper, sharp tongue, and restless spirit were always getting her into scrapes, and her life was a series of ups and downs, which were both comic and pathetic.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I'll be ever so good, pleaded Amy, looking as pathetic as she could.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
A week of remorse nearly made Meg sick, and the discovery that John had countermanded the order for his new greatcoat reduced her to a state of despair which was pathetic to behold.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
He did look round, came back, put his arms about her as she stood on the step above him, and looked up at her with a face that made his short appeal eloquent and pathetic.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
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