What's the difference between pathetic and poignant?

Pathetic


Definition:

  • (a.) Expressing or showing anger; passionate.
  • (a.) Affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos; as, a pathetic song or story.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But Blair's address - "history will forgive us" - was a dubious exercise in group therapy: the cheers smacked of pathetic gratitude, as he piously pardoned the legislators, as well as himself, for the catastrophe of Iraq.
  • (2) This is the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in my whole time in the United States Senate … I think they ought to stop posturing and acting like idiots.” Sean Spicer , the White House press secretary, branded the Democrats’ actions “embarrassing”.
  • (3) Hugo Williams, his assistant at LM for many years, once wrote of him turning contributions round at the door - for which their authors, said Williams, were pathetically grateful.
  • (4) This together with the pathetic lack of careers advice leaves too many girls and young women with no incentives to raise their sights or their ambitions.
  • (5) LOWLIGHT Marcus Christenson The racism in itself in first place and then the pathetic fines that came with it.
  • (6) He described the Croatian prime minister’s handling of the refugees as “pathetic.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hungarian police monitor a large group of migrants and refugees at a border crossing between Hungary and Croatia at Beremend.
  • (7) "My life speaks for me so there is no need to speak any more about this situation because it is ridiculous and pathetic."
  • (8) The alleged rewards were pathetically modest: gift certificates to Bed Bath & Beyond or Target were considered enough, apparently, to permanently kick people out of their homes.
  • (9) Announcing his party's plans today, Simon Hughes, the Lib Dems' climate change and energy spokesman, said: "One per cent of our current stock being energy-efficient is pathetic.
  • (10) "Everyone could see through what they were trying to do: 'Don't look at this vast hole in the public finances over there, look at this pathetic piece of class war posturing with 50p over here.'
  • (11) If they are those that have been running policy and advising policymakers then their record on youth unemployment so far has been quite pathetic.
  • (12) Australia is the richest, largest country in the region, so to sit back and say we are doing enough is pathetic really,” said Ritter, who attended the Kiribati summit.
  • (13) The most pathetic claim has been that Hammond did not warn his cabinet colleagues that the increase represented a breach of the Conservative manifesto.
  • (14) The pathetic point-scoring spat between health secretary Jeremy Hunt and his opposite number, Andy Burnham, over a past hospital scandal is dominating the headlines.
  • (15) Opening the assault on Brown, the SNP MP Mike Weir said: "We are witnessing the pathetic sight of a cabinet reshuffling itself.
  • (16) "Clint, my hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic," wrote the American film critic Roger Ebert.
  • (17) The fact that a mother-figure, the less-than-interesting Lady Russell, had "persuaded" Anne eight years earlier to give up the young man with whom she had fallen in love, due to his lack of prospects, was merely pathetic.
  • (18) Australia could meet tougher greenhouse gas emission targets without extra economic pain, according to the modelling used by the Abbott government to decide on post-2020 emission reduction targets that have been labelled “pathetically inadequate” .
  • (19) It displays a lamentable absence of quantitative detail, and a pathetic reliance on fashionable but questionable forecasting techniques that have long been compellingly contradicted by hard data."
  • (20) Instead he was outthought and outfought and, having lost his WBA title to Wladimir Klitschko, reduced rather pathetically to blaming the defeat on a broken toe.

Poignant


Definition:

  • (a.) Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent.
  • (a.) Fig.: Pointed; keen; satirical.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Totò was a legend in the Vesuvian city – a comedian of genius; poignant, mysterious.
  • (2) Fleeting though it may have been (he jetted off to New York this morning and is due in Toronto on Saturday), there was a poignant reason for his appearance: he was here to play a tribute set to Frankie Knuckles, the Godfather of house and one of Morales's closest friends, who died suddenly in March.
  • (3) One of the most poignant exchanges came when Tony was asked by @ juliangratton to sum up the last seven years of his life.
  • (4) The exercise yard is adorned with poignant children's paintings in response to school trips here.
  • (5) This double bind may be particularly poignant for grandparents in single mother families.
  • (6) This addition was particularly poignant as Andrew Jackson’s legacy includes the decision to sign the Indian Removal Act of 1830 , which gave the federal government power to expel Native American tribes from their land.
  • (7) This poignant letter, addressing Recep Tayyip Erdogan and written by one of the protesters in Istanbul's historic Taksim Square , was widely circulated on Turkey's social media.
  • (8) Treasure Island gives us an intense sense of place, and a poignant coming-of-age story full of moral ambiguity.
  • (9) Their songs ranged from the almost unbearably poignant ("Hand in Glove") to the frankly vulnerable ("How Soon is Now").
  • (10) The image of the France midfielder walking, head bowed, past the World Cup trophy is one of the more poignant in football history.
  • (11) The second series of BBC1’s hit drama Happy Valley ended on Tuesday night , bowing out in a wondrous blaze of confrontation, perceptive resolution and poignant revelation.
  • (12) Ed Miliband said: "This is a tragic and poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by our armed forces in serving our country with bravery and distinction."
  • (13) But the American author, already the recipient of the Man Booker International prize, the Pulitzer and the National Book award , said it was "particularly poignant for me to have gotten news of the award only a few weeks after the death of Carlos Fuentes, who received the award in 1994".
  • (14) A picture sits on each one of the chairs, decorated by poignant letters, orange flowers and gifts.
  • (15) Or perhaps we could focus on the relationship of Leia and Solo, now married, and there could be a heart-rendingly poignant study of their elderly existence together, rather like Michael Haneke's Amour , but set in space.
  • (16) Dern, all windblown white hair and stubble, is often entirely silent and withdrawn, and all the more compelling and poignant for that.
  • (17) On the basis of this limited but poignant experience, we propose an outline of steps in management to help others avoid similar problems.
  • (18) Yet the narratives in Benefits Street have a human and poignant quality, often presenting decent and compassionate people disenfranchised by an unfair society.
  • (19) Sandy Nairne, director of the NPG, said: "The Van Dyck self-portrait is a poignant portrait of great significance.
  • (20) It was poignant, afterwards, to hear Martínez try to put the human element into some perspective.