pathetic
Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.
Adjective 3 meanings
Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.
“The child’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart.”
Arousing scorn or contempt, often due to miserable inadequacy.
“You can't even run two miles? That’s pathetic.”
Trochlear.
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”). By surface analysis, path- + -etic.
Similar and opposite words
PATHETIC at a glance
PATHETIC has 8 letters and scores 15 points in Scrabble (P 3 + A 1 + T 1 + H 4 + E 1 + T 1 + I 1 + C 3) and 16 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #5,898 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with pathetic
All rhymesOne letter away
- BATHETIC15
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