Read the following two sentences.When Natalee saw the stray cat in the rain, her heart sank. The rain-soaked animal was a truly pathetic sight.

“Pathetic” means deserving sympathy or pity. The rain-soaked stray cat is described as a “pathetic sight,” so “pitiful” is the closest meaning. “Horrible” can mean very bad, but it does not capture the sense of deserving sympathy here.

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