pathetic

英[pə'θetɪk] 美[pə'θɛtɪk]

反义词

副词: pathetically;

pathetic 令人同情的，可怜的，可悲的

来自拉丁语patheticus,来自希腊语pathein,忍受，遭受，词源同passion,pathos.引申词义同感的，同悲的，令人同情的，后用于指可怜的，可悲的。

pathetic (adj.): 1590s, "affecting the emotions, exciting the passions," from Middle French pathétique "moving, stirring, affecting" (16c.), from Late Latin patheticus, from Greek pathetikos "subject to feeling, sensitive, capable of emotion," from pathetos "liable to suffer," verbal adjective of pathein "to suffer" (see pathos). Meaning "arousing pity, pitiful" is first recorded 1737. Colloquial sense of "so miserable as to be ridiculous" is attested from 1937. Related: Pathetical (1570s); pathetically. Pathetic fallacy (1856, first used by Ruskin) is the attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects.

1. We encountered the pathetic sight of a family packing up its home.: 我们目睹了一家人正在收拾家当准备离开的凄惨景象。

2. It's a pound for a small glass of wine, which is pathetic.: 一小杯葡萄酒要1英镑，真差劲。