different between melancholy vs pathetic
melancholy
English
Alternative forms
- melancholly, melancholie, melancholious (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek ?????????? (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”), from ????? (mélas), ?????- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + ???? (khol?, “bile”). Compare the Latin ?tra b?lis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /?mel?nk?li/
- (US) IPA(key): /?m?l.?n?k?l.i/
Noun
melancholy (countable and uncountable, plural melancholies)
- (historical) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
- , Bk.I, New York 2001, p.148:
- Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour, […] is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones.
- , Bk.I, New York 2001, p.148:
- Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
- 1593, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, V. i. 34:
- My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act IV, Scene 1,[1]
- I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these; but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and, indeed, the sundry contemplation of my travels; in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.
- 1593, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, V. i. 34:
Translations
Adjective
melancholy (comparative more melancholy, superlative most melancholy)
- (literary) Affected with great sadness or depression.
Synonyms
- (thoughtful sadness): melancholic
- See also Thesaurus:sad
Translations
Related terms
- melancholic
- sadness
- melancholia
melancholy From the web:
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pathetic
English
Alternative forms
- pathetick (archaic)
- patheticke (obsolete)
- pathetique (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle French pathétique, from Latin patheticus, from Ancient Greek ????????? (path?tikós, “subject to feeling, capable of feeling, impassioned”), from ??????? (path?tós, “one who has suffered, subject to suffering”), from ????? (páskh?, “to suffer”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /p????t?k/
- Rhymes: -?t?k
Adjective
pathetic (comparative more pathetic, superlative most pathetic)
- Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.
- The child’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart.
- 1883: George Reynolds, "History of the Book of Mormon: Contents of the Records, II," Contributor
- We have now arrived at one of the most pathetic and glorious events in the history of Israel, one which sanctifies the Lamanite race with the powers of martyrdom, and, by the blood of the victims, washes its garments white from many a former sin.
- Arousing scorn 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.
- (obsolete) Expressing or showing anger; passionate.
- (anatomy) Trochlear.
Synonyms
- (arousing pity): pitiful, wretched, miserable, deplorable, pathetisad
- (arousing scorn): disgraceful, shameful, despicable, dishonorable
Derived terms
- patheticism
- patheticness
- pathetics
Related terms
- pathos
Translations
Further reading
- pathetic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- pathetic in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
pathetic From the web:
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