Pa*thet"ic (?), a. [L. patheticus, Gr. &?;, fr. &?;, &?;, to suffer: cf. F. pathétique. See Pathos.]
1. Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [Obs.]
2.
Affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos; as, a
pathetic song or story. "Pathetic action."
Macaulay.
No theory of the
passions can teach a man to be pathetic.
E. Porter. Pathetic muscle
(Anat.), the superior oblique muscle of the
eye. -- Pathetic nerve (Anat.), the
fourth cranial, or trochlear, nerve, which supplies the superior oblique, or pathetic, muscle of the eye.
-- The pathetic,
a style or manner adapted to arouse the
tender emotions.
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