PITIFUL vs. PATHETIC

I was just wondering which is worse, pitiful or pathetic. In some ways, I can see an argument that pitiful is worse. In another way, they're similar or the same.

So I looked it up online and found a real can of worms.

On WikiDiff, I found Pitiful vs Pathetic - What's the difference? You have two columns of listings, and I got nothing from it. You might.

Then on Narkive, I found a comparison that sounds like what I wrote in the top paragraph. It's called OT: 'pitiful' vs 'pathetic'.

On UsingEnglish, I found one explanation that might mean something to you. It's called "pathetic" vs. "pitiful".

On HiNative, I found What is the difference between pitiful and Pathetic ?, with one person saying there's no difference.

There may be more differences online, but I mostly found pure definitions and synonyms. Here are synonyms (same meaning) for pathetic: heartbreaking, heartrending, miserable, piteous, pitiable,
pitiful, poor, rueful, sorry, wretched. You'll notice that pitiful is there.

What do YOU think?

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