Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Pathetic \Pa*thet"ic\, a. [L. patheticus, Gr. ?, fr. ?, ?, to
   suffer: cf. F. path['e]tique. 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.