All 3 Uses of
pathetic
in
The Pigman
- I mean those particular cops were so dumb it was pathetic.
Chpt 11 *pathetic = so bad it is laughable or contemptible
- He walked very slowly, and he had lost so much weight. It was pathetic, that's what it was.
Chpt 14 *pathetic = pitiful (something that arouses pity)
- Absolutely pathetic.†
Chpt 14
Definitions:
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(1)
(pathetic as in: Her pathetic look saddened us.) pitiful (arousing pity)
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(2)
(pathetic as in: a pathetic attempt to insult me) very bad -- possibly so bad it is laughable (possibly mixed with some feeling of pity)
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, and typically just in classic literature, pathetic can mean "relating to emotions". One fairly modern example is in the book, A Separate Peace, where the expression pathetic fallacy is used to describe the non-rational human tendency to ascribe human emotions to inanimate objects or animals.