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patheticmore about pathetic

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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