But they nevertheless manage to convey a desperation that drives everyone to try pathetically to make the best of an awkward situation.

Ben was at his most loving and pathetically trying to help.

I'll put on speed, pathetically trying to outrun that guy's three hundred horsepower with this old relic.

We're tools, pathetically trying to find some way to convince ourselves that our actions are our own idea.

The occasional helicopter can send these travelers ducking for cover, sometimes pathetically trying to hide by crouching in moving flocks of sheep and goats.

Jimi Hendrix is impossible to imitate, though some pathetically try.

Less than fifteen minutes after they had entered the office building, they came out with Lawrence Lipton in handcuffs, pathetically trying to shield his face.

He rambled on in this vein, trying pathetically to persuade her.

With his other arm he tried pathetically to hold Reese at bay.