pathetic
adj.adj. so weak, useless, or bad that you feel pity or even a little bit of anger. It describes something that is not good enough to be respected.
adj. arousing pity, especially through vulnerability or sadness; also used to describe something miserably inadequate or unsuccessful.
The team gave a pathetic performance and lost by twenty points.
He made a pathetic attempt to apologize, but his excuses were so weak that nobody believed him.
The sight of the abandoned, shivering kitten was truly pathetic, yet it was the owner's pathetic lack of responsibility that truly angered the neighbors.
From Middle French pathétique, from Latin patheticus, from Ancient Greek παθητικός (pathētikós, “subject to feeling, capable of feeling, impassioned”), from παθητός (pathētós, “one who has suffered, subject to suffering”), from πάσχω (páskhō, “to suffer”).
Commonly used as a harsh criticism of effort or quality; can be gradable (e.g., 'absolutely pathetic').