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say it: puh-THET-ik
pathetic is an adjective meaning "deserving or inciting pity". It carries 3 recorded senses.
deserving or inciting pity
“a hapless victim”
“miserable victims of war”
“the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic”
“piteous appeals for help”
“pitiable homeless children”
“a pitiful fate”
“Oh, you poor thing”
“his poor distorted limbs”
“a wretched life”
inspiring mixed contempt and pity
“their efforts were pathetic”
“pitiable lack of character”
“pitiful exhibition of cowardice”
inspiring scornful pity
“how silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years”
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for pathetic come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.