How to Use pathetic in a Sentence

pathetic

adjective
  • The blind, old dog was a pathetic sight.
  • His car is a pathetic piece of junk.
  • The story he told was a pathetic attempt to cover up a lie.
  • The team was pretty bad last year, but this year they're downright pathetic.
  • This @nickfuentes git is more pathetic than the most snowflakey (snowflake).
    Fox News, 22 Dec. 2019
  • Most of it has been plagued by pathetic showings on the field.
    Scooby Axson, USA TODAY, 30 Oct. 2022
  • There’s even been talk of the need for some sort of amnesty, which sounds pretty pathetic.
    Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2021
  • That's not the most pathetic thing a man has ever done.
    Philip Martin, Arkansas Online, 17 Jan. 2023
  • The mum-and-dad state were to give the pathetic little creatures their due, thank you very much.
    The Economist, 8 Jan. 2020
  • That’s sad and pathetic and horrible all at the same time.
    Rebecca Rosenberg, Fox News, 5 May 2023
  • It’s all so sad and pathetic, these games people play with the good people of this state.
    Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 26 Oct. 2021
  • Gotta keep the bowl-game money rolling in, of course, and that truth makes this next part so laughably pathetic.
    Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 22 Sep. 2021
  • On the Twitter, two Twitters, the tweets from 2010, is pathetic.
    Eric Johnson, Recode, 5 Nov. 2018
  • The trees were thin and pathetic and nearly leafless at first.
    Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 8 Feb. 2021
  • They just got beat 19-16 by pathetic, lowly Washington, one of the worst teams in the NFL.
    Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press, 24 Nov. 2019
  • The gags are sophomoric and the overall story line is as pathetic as the concept.
    BostonGlobe.com, 17 May 2021
  • One sweater-vest is pathetic, but four sweater-vests worn over sequinned miniskirts is a trend.
    Audrey Burges, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023
  • This is, frankly, pathetic -- and is killing millions of people a year.
    Dr. Tom Frieden, CNN, 30 May 2021
  • Mike McCarthy’s clock management at the end of the first half was pathetic.
    Dallas News, 28 Sep. 2021
  • And the way the LW speaks of his mother---who clearly only lied to spare them worry---is pathetic.
    Sahaj Kaur Kohli, Washington Post, 22 June 2023
  • The good news is that Pompeo is slightly less pathetic than Pence.
    Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 31 Jan. 2023
  • In the premiere, Martha is made to look as dumpy and pathetic—and then as unhinged—as possible.
    Judy Berman, TIME, 19 Apr. 2024
  • Not up to snuff, that thin pathetic shell, phased out years ago by new safety standards.
    T Kira Madden, refinery29.com, 3 Aug. 2021
  • What meshed not long ago unraveled to the point of being pathetic.
    Nick Canepa Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Sep. 2021
  • The Oslo Accords, signed in the nineties by Yitzhak Rabin, were also an act of pathetic credulity.
    David Remnick, The New Yorker, 14 Jan. 2024
  • Your tights, your shirts, your sports bras: all pathetic slackers!
    Peter Rubin, WIRED, 24 June 2019
  • Martha was pretty sure that the same warning from her would have come off as pathetic, if not insane.
    Nell Freudenberger, The New Yorker, 28 July 2024
  • There is always moral suasion — but this can seem weak and pathetic.
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 7 Nov. 2019
  • Food items — from sausages to oranges — have wrenched global control from pathetic earthlings, many of whom are now dead.
    Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 10 July 2024
  • Wynn’s business is half Macau, which means China, which means pathetic and horrible and worth far less.
    Jim Cramer, CNBC, 14 July 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pathetic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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