PATHETIC • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Pathetic

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/pəθˈɛtɪk/ Listen

adjective

Pathetic adj.

Expressing or showing anger; passionate. (Obs.)

Affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos; as, a pathetic song or story. "Pathetic action." "No theory of the passions can teach a man to be pathetic."

Pathetic muscle (Anat.), the superior oblique muscle of the eye.

Pathetic nerve (Anat.), the fourth cranial, or trochlear, nerve, which supplies the superior oblique, or pathetic, muscle of the eye.

The pathetic, a style or manner adapted to arouse the tender emotions.

See images of 'Pathetic'

Etymology of 'Pathetic'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Pathetic" Quotes from Famous Books

... unfortunate but high-souled nobleman in expectation of ignominious death are interesting and pathetic, but they have no claim to a tune, even if they were less rugged and unmetrical. But the poem stands notable ...

— The Story of the Hymns and Tunes • Theron Brown and Hezekiah Butterworth

... can never be dull. But here, in winter at least, it is extraordinarily—" he paused for the exactly right word, in a calm way that was peculiar to him and that seemed to emphasise his fine self-possession—"pathetic, and suggestive of calamity." ...

— Tongues of Conscience • Robert Smythe Hichens

... taking her part. Once, when she was very small, she ran away with Katy's doll, and when Katy pursued, and tried to take it from her, Clover held fast and would not let go. Dr. Carr, who wasn't attending particularly, heard nothing but the pathetic tone of Clover's voice, as she said: "Me won't! Me want dolly!" and, without stopping to inquire, he called out sharply: "For shame, Katy! give your sister her doll at once!" which Katy, much surprised, did; while Clover purred in triumph, like a satisfied kitten. Clover ...

— What Katy Did • Susan Coolidge

... minted, it is busy on some vantage height of its own, impressing its own image; and it is with minds maimed by the cruel machinery of life, natures stunted and starved by adverse and innutritive condition, that the artist in man must be satisfied. With what pathetic little flashes of faculty, what fleeting and illusory glimpses of insight, what waifs and strays of attractiveness, must he work and be happy, and with what a thankfulness that the tenth rate is ...

— The Romance of Zion Chapel [3d ed.] • Richard Le Gallienne

... She looked very wistful and pathetic at that moment. A lump rose in my throat as I strove to dry her eyes ...

— Our Elizabeth - A Humour Novel • Florence A. Kilpatrick

More quotes...