🔍 牛津詞典
🔍 朗文詞典
🔍 劍橋詞典
🔍 柯林斯詞典
🔍 麥美倫詞典
🔍 韋氏詞典 🎯

檢索以下詞典:
(Mr. Ng 不推薦使用 Google 翻譯!)
最近搜尋:
IELTS BNC: 6913 COCA: 7927

pathetic

adjective

pa·​thet·​ic pə-ˈthe-tik How to pronounce pathetic (audio)
1
: having a capacity to move one to either compassionate or contemptuous pity
2
: marked by sorrow or melancholy : sad
3
: pitifully inferior or inadequate
the restaurant's pathetic service
4
: absurd, laughable
a pathetic costume
pathetical adjective
pathetically adverb
Choose the Right Synonym for pathetic

moving, impressive, poignant, affecting, touching, pathetic mean having the power to produce deep emotion.

moving may apply to any strong emotional effect including thrilling, agitating, saddening, or calling forth pity or sympathy.

a moving appeal for contributions

impressive implies compelling attention, admiration, wonder, or conviction.

an impressive list of achievements

poignant applies to what keenly or sharply affects one's sensitivities.

a poignant documentary on the homeless

affecting is close to moving but most often suggests pathos.

an affecting deathbed reunion

touching implies arousing tenderness or compassion.

the touching innocence in a child's eyes

pathetic implies moving to pity or sometimes contempt.

pathetic attempts to justify misconduct

Example Sentences

The spectacle seen in the theater of the news presented the American President as a failed suppliant instead of a conquering hero—an ailing and pathetic figure dismissed with the smile of pity and the gift of some sweet candies shaped as miniature sculptures of the President's two dogs. Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's, March 1992 They were brave, and bravely she served them a pathetic meal of nothing but limitless bowls of little potatoes boiled in their jackets … M. F. K. Fisher, With Bold Knife and Fork, 1969 Her face looked pale and extinguished, as if dimmed by the rich red of her dress. She struck Archer, of a sudden, as a pathetic and even pitiful figure. Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, 1920 The blind, old dog was a pathetic sight. The team was pretty bad last year, but this year they're downright pathetic. The story he told was a pathetic attempt to cover up a lie. His car is a pathetic piece of junk. See More
Recent Examples on the Web The Ravens got beat physically, and communication on the back end was pathetic. Mike Preston, Baltimore Sun, 18 Sep. 2022 Some was pathetic, like going after pinball parlors. Sam Kean, Washington Post, 16 Sep. 2022 Being more than two inches shorter than me is pathetic, respectfully. Alex Watt, The New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2022 So their roles—while pathetic and annoying—may also be important. Josh St. Clair, Men's Health, 4 Sep. 2022 True confessions from a plant reporter and devotee of more than 40 years: My first foray into gardening was a pathetic disaster. Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2022 Currently, e-bikes are trapped in the weird smear between pathetic, loser bicycles and pitiable, low-end motorbikes. Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 31 Aug. 2022 On Christmas Day, Gorbachev resigned, a dignified but pathetic figure, now powerless and reduced to running his foundation and writing his memoirs. Ronald Suny, The Conversation, 31 Aug. 2022 What a pathetic episode at a school that already has more than a few issues with which to deal, issues to correct, issues to make right. Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 28 Aug. 2022 See More

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French pathetique "provoking emotion," borrowed from Late Latin pathēticus "affecting the emotions," borrowed from Greek pathētikós "capable of feeling, emotional, receptive, passive," from pathētós "subject to suffering, liable to external influence" (verbal adjective from the base path- "experience, undergo, suffer") + -ikos -ic entry 1 — more at pathos

First Known Use

1591, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of pathetic was in 1591

👨🏻‍🏫 Mr. Ng 韋氏詞典 📚 – mw.mister5️⃣.net
切換為繁體中文
Site Uptime