pathos
Americannoun
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the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity, or of sympathetic and kindly sorrow or compassion.
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pity.
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Obsolete. suffering.
noun
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the quality or power, esp in literature or speech, of arousing feelings of pity, sorrow, etc
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a feeling of sympathy or pity
a stab of pathos
Etymology
Origin of pathos
First recorded in 1570–80; from Greek páthos “suffering, sensation, experience,” akin to páschein “to suffer, feel, be affected”; pathetic ( def. )
Compare meaning
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A subtle pathos, along with the playwright’s verbal sophistication, prevents the play from degenerating into a collegiate vaudeville.”
From Los Angeles Times
From its first season to its last, “Friends” has celebrated Thanksgiving with the hijinks, hilarity and occasional pathos it deserves.
From Los Angeles Times
The character has a scrap of backstory in a photo of his dead wife and kids, pathos that Tommila’s weary, teary blue eyes hit a little too hard.
From Los Angeles Times
Writer-director Noah Baumbach’s funniest and finest movie in many years is perfection all the way through: the perfect casting choice, the perfect balance of comedy and pathos, the perfect wacky route to the perfect ending.
But he carries the pathos of the impressionable idiot.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
