How to use pathetic in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective
Pathetic means arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos. Example: “The child’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart.”
Examples of pathetic by meaning
adjectiveArousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.
- The child’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart.
adjectiveArousing scorn or contempt, often due to miserable inadequacy.
- You can't even run two miles? That’s pathetic.
- You're almost 26 years old and you still can't hold a real job? That's pathetic.
- Well you'd better think of something because middle-aged tramps aren't cute, they're pathetic.2005, In Her Shoes
More sentences with pathetic
- As a degradee, nothing will ever hit as good as the word “pathetic.” Sums it up perfectly.2024 August 20, @sluttyxangelic, Twitter. From the entry degradee
- The next generation of AI will put the pathetic fallacy on steroids.2022 June 14, Ian Bogost, “Google’s ‘Sentient’ Chatbot Is Our Self-Deceiving Future”, in The Atlantic. From the entry pathetic fallacy
- How pathetic was it for me to be the one saying that?2022 November 18, Saitosa, Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! Volume 2, J-Novel Club, →ISBN. From the entry flat is justice
- Don’t get me wrong: I love mantises so much it is pathetic.2021 May 27, Helen Sullivan, “A praying mantis: she bites into her mate’s head like an apple and cleans her face ‘like a cat’”, in The…. From the entry mantis
- George, known among Kerala Christians as the Saint Geevarghese, slays a puny and pathetic dragon.2015 October 30, M.T. Ansari, Islam and Nationalism in India: South Indian contexts, Routledge, →ISBN. From the entry Geevarghese
- "Cute dog," he said, bending down to pet the pooch, hating how utterly pathetic he sounded.2015, Ted Bell, White Death, page 183. From the entry drink someone's bathwater
- My knowledge of dogs was actually pathetic, but the subject had never interested me.2013 March 6, Resh Ramlakan, Fur Kids: Angels on Earth, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 11. From the entry pavement special
- I must have seemed pathetic to her, with my orphanish clothes and chalky fingers.2009, Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood, Virago Press (2020), page 88. From the entry orphanish
- Forlorn and diminishing, these pathetic gods still inhabit the American mythscape.2003, Richard Walsh, Reading the Gospels in the Dark, page 173. From the entry mythscape
- It must have really hurt a fantroll such as yourself to see Sony's pathetic E3 showing.2002 May 25, Mitch Crane, “PC was Best of Show at E3 2002”, in alt.games.video.xbox (Usenet), retrieved 24 Dec 2021. From the entry fantroll
- This most religious of art forms belies the pathetic empiricisms of contemporary discussions.2001 Sep, Mark Zimmermann, “The Stillness of Painting: Robert Kingston and His Contemporaries”, in PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art…. From the entry empiricism
- A sign nailed to a manita tree read “Jardín Botánica.” Edmund surveyed this pathetic place in disbelief.2000, Stephen Harrigan, The Gates of the Alamo: A Novel. From the entry manita
- Depending on how they are utilized, gay chat rooms could become pathetic cyberclosets.1998 March 3, The Advocate, number 754. From the entry cybercloset
- I don't know if I have heard a more pathetic indictment of slum-lordery.1971, Concordia Theological Monthly, volume 42. From the entry lordery
- These serve as pathetic substitutes for the love he craves but has never received.1957, Robert O Blood, Anticipating Your Marriage. From the entry unspanked
- Pathetic as its passing is, one cannot honestly regret the old school.1915, Thomas Burke, “An Entertainment Night: Round the Halls”, in Nights in Town: A London Autobiography, London: George Allen & Unwin…. From the entry old school
- The victim playing of these people is beyond pathetic.2024 March 26, Tom Garry, quoting Joey Barton, “‘Horrible’ Joey Barton comments and online abuse of 17-year-old female goalkeeper branded…. From the entry tele
- I’d be ROFLing if it weren’t so sad, so pathetic.2015, “Julie Patch”, in Michael Martone, Bryan Furuness, editors, Winesburg, Indiana: A Fork River Anthology, Indiana University Press…. From the entry ROFL
- Before the interregnum, the cakes made for weddings had been pathetic offerings, consisting mainly of piles of biscuits and scones.2014, Bruce Montague, Wedding Bells and Chimney Sweeps, →ISBN. From the entry bunny
- The crowd loves those who fight manly and nobly, but it laughs at those who are pathetic cowards.2014, Jerry Toner, “How to Be a Roman”, in The Day Commodus Killed a Rhino: Understanding the Roman Games (Witness to Ancient History)…. From the entry manly
- This particular Sockmaster is growing more pathetic by the day.2012 July 23, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, “Re: Ignore fake nominations from twits forging FNVWs via albasani.”, in alt.checkmate (Usenet). From the entry sockmaster
- Apart from the pathetic yearny crush bit, obviously.2011, Jill Mansell, To The Moon and Back. From the entry yearny
- She raised a pathetic handful of ragged bills.2005, John Connolly, The Black Angel: A Thriller, page 24. From the entry Mickey D's
- Just pathetic.' My first ever hate mail!2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 164. From the entry hate mail
- I was used to hearing `You're not funny, Dooley, just pathetic,' from producers and former lovers, but from a total stranger?2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 164. From the entry hate mail
- Your pathetic rays of insultry directed at me merely because I say things that aren't of your opinion are just amusing.2004 July 23, kevincar, “Re: Population and longevity”, in misc.misc (Usenet). From the entry insultry
- 'But I'm hungwy.' A pathetic little-girl's rhotacismus.1959: Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East, Ch. 2. (The Long Day Wanes, p. 403). From the entry rhotacismus
- There was a pathetic look of draggledness, of want of means and care, rust and overgrowth and faded paint.1923, Walter de la Mare, Seaton's Aunt. From the entry draggledness
- Miss Lindon, in pathetic despair, had abandoned her notion of turning Unity into a young lady of young-ladylike accomplishments.1913, William J[ohn] Locke, chapter XIV, in Stella Maris, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; […], →OCLC, page 184. From the entry young-ladylike
- That is incredibly pathetic and sad.2026 July 5, @clearlyfoggy.bsky.social, Bluesky (post), archived from the original on 05 Jul 2026. From the entry epitome
- I’m done with pathetic, performative people.”2026 June 28, David Smith, “Will the Mamdani effect make 2028 the year of the leftwing president?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry centrist
- “Nate, you’re pathetic,” Lip Cheese says.2012 October 9, Bill Peters, “NecronicA”, in Maverick Jetpants in the City of Quality, New York, N.Y.: Black Balloon Publishing, →ISBN…. From the entry serial-killer glasses
- This desperate hackishness was all the more pathetic in people who actually still had ideals, but simply could no longer find words for them.2006, Jean-François Bizot, Free press: underground & alternative publications 1965-1975. From the entry hackishness
- I had clipped out the photo, feeling pathetic about the act from the moment I slipped my thumb into the scissor hole.2005, Jason Anderson, Showbiz, ECW Press, →ISBN, page 21. From the entry scissor
- It’s impossible to move a shallow, triangular martini glass quickly in any direction without sloshing wildly, revealing your pathetic lack of suavitude to all.2001 August 22, Kathleen Stebbins, “Martinis are back in style — if you don’t mind the guilt”, in Reno Gazette-Journal, page 2G. From the entry suavitude
- Mr Houston repeated as Mrs Houston boaked and I made a pathetic effort to mop some of the mess back into the sheets.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 94. From the entry boak
Meaning of pathetic
- adjective Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.
- adjective Arousing scorn or contempt, often due to miserable inadequacy.
- adjective Expressing or showing anger; passionate.
Questions about pathetic in a sentence
- How do you use pathetic in a sentence?
- Pathetic is used as an adjective. For example: “The child’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart.”
- What is a short sentence with pathetic?
- “I’m done with pathetic, performative people.””
- What does pathetic mean?
- Pathetic means arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pathetic (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use pathetic in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/pathetic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
