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Pathetic vs Bathetic - What's the difference?

pathetic | bathetic |

As adjectives the difference between pathetic and bathetic

is that pathetic is arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion while bathetic is characterized by or pertaining to bathos.

pathetic

English

Alternative forms

* pathetick (archaic) * patheticke (obsolete) * pathetique (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion.
    • The old man’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart.
  • Arousing scornful pity 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 .
  • * {{quote-video, year=2005, title=
    • , passage=Well you'd better think of something because middle-aged tramps aren't cute, they're pathetic .}}
  • (obsolete) Expressing or showing anger; passionate.

    • Synonyms

    * (arousing pity) pitiful, wretched, miserable, deplorable, pathetisad * (arousing scorn) disgraceful, shameful, despicable, dishonorable

    Derived terms

    * patheticism * patheticness

    Related terms

    * pathos

    External links

    * *

    bathetic

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Characterized by or pertaining to bathos .
  • * 1995 , Rupert D. V. Glasgow, Madness, Masks, and Laughter: An Essay on Comedy , p. 214.
    • The fall is indeed the archetypal bathetic motion, a sudden, surprising downward rush degrading the pretensions of posture and man's bipedal pride.