pathos

See also: Pathos and páthos

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “suffering”).

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpeɪˌθɒs/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈpeɪˌθoʊs/, /ˈpæˌθoʊs/

Noun

pathos (countable and uncountable, plural pathoses)

  1. The quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, especially that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality.
    • 20 August 2018', Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett in The Guardian, Young women are smashing it at Edinburgh as the #MeToo legacy kicks in
      Pritchard-McLean’s show is perfectly constructed, and at times deeply moving to the point where some audience members were near tears, yet the pathos is undercut by true belly laughs – but don’t trust me, read the reviews.
    • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From The Madding Crowd, 1874:
      His voice had a genuine pathos now, and his large brown hands perceptibly trembled.
  2. (rhetoric) A writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals involving the use of strong emotions such as pity.
  3. (literature) An author's attempt to evoke a feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow for a character.
  4. (theology, philosophy) In theology and existentialist ethics following Kierkegaard and Heidegger, a deep and abiding commitment of the heart, as in the notion of "finding your passion" as an important aspect of a fully lived, engaged life.
  5. Suffering; the enduring of active stress or affliction.

Quotations
  • For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:pathos.

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading

Anagrams

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Noun

pathos m (plural pathos)

  1. pathos (the quality of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions)

Spanish

Noun

pathos m (plural pathos)

  1. pathos
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