[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

pathetic \pathet"ic\ p.athe^t"i^k, a. l. patheticus,
   gr. paqhtiko`s, fr. paqei^n, pa`schein, to suffer: cf. f.
   path'etique. see pathos.
   1. expressing or showing anger; passionate. obs.
      1913 webster

   2. affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or
      grief; full of pathos; as, a pathetic song or story.
      "pathetic action." --macaulay.
      1913 webster

            no theory of the passions can teach a man to be
            pathetic.                             --e. porter.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster
see also:
pathos pathetic muscle pathetic nerve the pathetic 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

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"; "oh, you poor thing"; "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
see also:
hapless miserable misfortunate piteous pitiable pitiful 
poor wretched ridiculous silly 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

87 moby thesaurus words for "pathetic":
   affecting, affective, afflictive, beggarly, beneath contempt,
   bitter, bleak, cheap, cheerless, cheesy, comfortless, common,
   contemptible, crummy, deplorable, depressing, depressive,
   despicable, discomforting, dismal, dismaying, distressful,
   distressing, doleful, dolorific, dolorogenic, dolorous, dreary,
   emotional, emotive, feeble, gaudy, gimcracky, grievous,
   heartrending, inadequate, joyless, lamentable, mean, measly,
   meretricious, miserable, mournful, moving, painful, paltry, petty,
   piddling, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, plaintive, poignant, poor,
   puny, regrettable, rubbishy, rueful, sad, saddening, scrubby,
   scruffy, scummy, scurvy, scuzzy, shabby, sharp, shoddy, sore,
   sorrowful, sorry, stirring, touching, tragic, trashy, trumpery,
   two-for-a-cent, two-for-a-penny, twopenny, twopenny-halfpenny,
   uncomfortable, valueless, vile, woebegone, woeful, worthless,
   wretched

Pathetic >> P Words
Pathetic, definition of term: Pathetic
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Pathetic Fallac >> P Words
Pathetic Fallac, definition of term: Pathetic Fallac
pathetic+fallac_pag1.html