pathetic
/pəˈθɛtɪk
/adjective
1Arousing pity, especially through vulnerability or sadness: she looked so pathetic that I bent down to comfort her...
- She is good-hearted and took pity on my pathetic form whenever I was sent to the kitchens by my mistresses.
- His Graham is a pathetic, vulnerable figure who inspires both pity and amusement.
- The figure, in its nakedness, has an almost ghostly, insubstantial quality, a pathetic vulnerability.
Synonyms
pitiful, pitiable, piteous, to be pitied, moving, touching, poignant, plaintive, stirring;
affecting, distressing, disquieting, disturbing, upsetting, miserable, heartbreaking, heart-rending, agonizing, harrowing, mortifying, sad, wretched, poor, forlorn, tragic, doleful, mournful, woeful
rare distressful
2 informal Miserably inadequate: he’s a pathetic excuse for a man...
- Then we get this paltry, pathetic excuse for a bill, and we are all supposed to become excited about it.
- Karl made some pathetic excuse about having to go to Croydon.
- That article was the most pathetic excuse for him to showcase his infantile vocabulary.
Synonyms
feeble, woeful, sorry, poor, pitiful, lamentable, deplorable, miserable, wretched, contemptible, despicable, inadequate, meagre, paltry, insufficient, negligible, insubstantial, unsatisfactory, worthless
3 archaic Relating to the emotions.
Origin
Late 16th century (in the sense 'affecting the emotions'): via late Latin from Greek pathētikos 'sensitive', based on pathos 'suffering'.
‘Affecting the emotions’ was the early sense of pathetic which came via late Latin from Greek pathētikos ‘sensitive’, based on pathos ‘suffering’ (M17th in English). Apathy (early 17th century) is from apathēs ‘without feeling’, and empathy (from em- ‘in’ and pathos ‘feeling’) was coined by physiologists in the early 20th century. See also sympathy