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• r  in a manner arousing sympathy and compassion
  the sick child cried pathetically
• r  arousing scornful pity
  they had pathetically little money
  it was pathetically bad

• The canniest moments in the three-plus hours of Nixon, Oliver Stone's dense, ultimately disappointing biopic, capture Nixon at his most pathetically endearing--the Commander in .
• Most pathetically, Clinton calls for an "Emergency Working Group" composed of Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan.
• He had grown old and pathetically poor.

• pitiably

News & Articles

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• Abraham: Big field of mayoral candidates has large downside
  I longed for a big, fat, juicy field to succeed Mayor Tom Menino, departing after 20 years in office. Stunted by an opponent-crushing incumbent, open political ambition has been in pathetically short supply around here for way too long. So, when an army of candidates emerged to vie for Boston’s top job, I was delighted. (I’d be even more delighted if there were more than one woman among them ...
  June 6, 2013 - Boston Globe
• Which is sicker: Hospitals? Or politicians?
  BY GINA HAMILTON SMART MONEY The real question Mainers should be asking themselves is, “Why is this even a political issue?” As every Mainer who is awake (and a pathetically large number of Mainers — and other Americans — out of state) has learned over the last couple of weeks, government in Maine has become a rather sad case of tit for tat. read more
  June 5, 2013 - The Times Record

Quotes

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• William Sanderson in INDYchannel.com
  As for EB, Sanderson said, the best way to describe Farnum is as "a sneak and a sycophant -- a weasel. He's a pathetically funny character."
• Andy Flower in Telegraph.co.uk
  That's good on South Africa's part,said Flower. "It's about time they did something strong. Leaving aside cricket, I think South Africa has been pathetically weak about the whole subject. But they're [using] stronger language and being...
• Sergei Stanishev in Aljazeera.net
  These disgusting practices inflict terrible scars on our democracy. But the most scary thing is that in return for a pathetically small amount of money, you put your own future and that of your children and families at stake,Stanishev said....