PATHETIC • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Pathetic

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/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.

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Etymology of 'Pathetic'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pathetic" Quotes from Famous Books

... of these stories is the inculcation, in a quiet, simple way, of the principles of good nature, kindness, and integrity among children. They consist of the usual pathetic and mirthful incidents that constitute boy ...

— Rollo on the Rhine • Jacob Abbott

... pathetic close to these pages, so full of touches of humour, keen observation and racy anecdote. It would seem as if the hand which wielded so descriptive and ready a pen had wearied of its task; as if, at last, the sunny nature was overcast and the merry heart saddened. But surely not another word ...

— Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe • Lady Fanshawe

... the coast is clear to-night for I s'pose she will be particularly touching, and Helen is getting awfully hard to manage. It wouldn't do to interrupt them at the last minute just when he was getting pathetic maybe. I wonder what ...

— The Governess • Julie M. Lippmann

... gentleman's head was very weak and he was as easily deceived as a child, but as his strength came back his mind became clearer. He wanted to be kept in touch with troop movements and to have the War Department Bulletin read to him. It was pathetic to see the little girl, night and day, bent over her map of Germany, sticking in pins with little flags on them, and trying hard to invent to the last detail a successful campaign: Bazaine advancing ...

— Short Stories of Various Types • Various

... daughter as before. 'Do, my pretty Olivia,' cried she, 'let us have that melancholy air your father was so fond of; your sister Sophy has already obliged us. Do, child; it will please your old father.' She complied in a manner so exquisitely pathetic as moved me. ...

— Oliver Goldsmith • Washington Irving

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