PATHETIC

adj. 1 moving, stirring, affecting, affective, touching, emotional, emotive, poignant, tragic, heart-rending, heart-breaking, pitiful, pitiable, piteous, plaintive, wretched, miserable, sorrowful, grievous, sad, doleful, dolorous, mournful, woeful, lamentable The boat people told a pathetic tale of the hardship of weeks in the open sea 2 meagre, paltry, feeble, inadequate, poor, petty, puny, sorry, piddling, Colloq measly, Slang crummy He made a pathetic effort to pull himself together A return of three per cent a year is pathetic.