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pathetic |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Pathetic \Pa*thet"ic\, a. [L. patheticus Gr ?, fr ?, ?, to suffer: cf F. path['e]tique. See {Pathos}.] 1. Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [Obs.] 2. Affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos; as a pathetic song or story. ``Pathetic action.'' --Macaulay. No theory of the passions can teach a man to be pathetic. --E. Porter. {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. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: pathetic adj 1: deserving or inciting pity; "a hapless victim"; "miserable victims of war"; "the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic"- Galsworthy "piteous appeals for help"; "pitiable homeless children"; "a pitiful fate"; "couldn't rescue the poor fellow"; "his poor distorted limbs"; "a wretched life" [syn: {hapless}, {miserable}, {misfortunate}, {piteous}, {pitiable}, {pitiful}, {poor}, {wretched}] 2: inspiring mixed contempt and pity; "their efforts were pathetic"; "pitiable lack of character"; "pitiful exhibition of cowardice" [syn: {pitiable}, {pitiful}] 3: inspiring scornful pity; "how silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years"- Dashiell Hammett [syn: {ridiculous}, {silly}]
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