pa·thos

(pā′thŏs′, -thôs′)

1. A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.

2. The feeling, as of sympathy or pity, so aroused.

[Greek, suffering; see k^went(h)- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pathos

(ˈpeɪθɒs)

1. the quality or power, esp in literature or speech, of arousing feelings of pity, sorrow, etc

2. a feeling of sympathy or pity: a stab of pathos.

[C17: from Greek: suffering; related to penthos sorrow]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pa•thos

(ˈpeɪ θɒs, -θoʊs, -θɔs)

n.

1. the quality or power in life or art of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion.

2. pity.

3. Obs. suffering.

[1570–80; < Greek páthos suffering, sensation, akin to páschein to suffer]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	pathos - a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow); "the film captured all the pathos of their situation" poignancy quality - an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone; "the quality of mercy is not strained"--Shakespeare
	2.	pathos - a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others; "the blind are too often objects of pity" commiseration, pity, ruth fellow feeling, sympathy - sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish)
	3.	pathos - a style that has the power to evoke feelings expressive style, style - a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period; "all the reporters were expected to adopt the style of the newspaper"

pathos

noun sadness, poignancy, plaintiveness, pitifulness, pitiableness the pathos of his hopeless situation

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

pathos

pathos patos

пафос

pathos

[ˈpeɪθɒs] N → patetismo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

pathos

[ˈpeɪθɒs] n → pathétique m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

pathos

n → Pathos nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

pathos

[ˈpeɪθɒs] n → pathos m inv

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

There could be few more tearful sights,--and Heaven forgive us if a smile insist on mingling with our conception of it!--few sights with truer pathos in them, than Hepzibah presented on that first afternoon.

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In continental Greece (1), on the other hand, but especially in Boeotia, a new form of epic sprang up, which for the romance and PATHOS of the Ionian School substituted the practical and matter-of-fact.

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As a public speaker, he excels in pathos, wit, comparison, imitation, strength of reasoning, and fluency of language.

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Following on the Odes, we have much written in the same style, more often than not by women, or songs possibly written to be sung by them, always in a minor key, fraught with sadness, yet full of quiet resignation and pathos.

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Had you seen, as I did, the fire of truth in those gray eyes; had you felt the ring of sincerity in that quiet voice; had you realized the pathos of it all--you, too, would believe.

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(exaggerated tender feeling); (2) Humor, the instinctive sense for that which is amusing; and (3) the sense for Pathos. Pathos differs from Tragedy in that Tragedy (whether in a drama or elsewhere) is the suffering of persons who are able to struggle against it, Pathos the suffering of those persons (children, for instance) who are merely helpless victims.

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There is poetry here and fantasy and humor, a little pathos but, above all, a number of creations in whose existence everybody must believe whether they be children of four or old men of ninety or prosperous bankers of forty-five.

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He had grown used to the terrors of war and could face them unflinchingly; but its pathos, someway, always brought the tears to his old, dim eyes.

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And there is a pathos in that memory, for the poor fellow never went to sea again after all.

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He would never exactly reply to Philip's eager questioning, but with a merry, rather stupid laugh, hinted at a romantic amour; he quoted a few lines of Rossetti, and once showed Philip a sonnet in which passion and purple, pessimism and pathos, were packed together on the subject of a young lady called Trude.

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At last I can do justice to the exquisite conception of his 'Conquest of Granada', a study of history which, in unique measure, conveys not only the pathos, but the humor of one of the most splendid and impressive situations in the experience of the race.

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Like all other music, it breathed passion and pathos, and emotions high or tender, in a tongue native to the human heart, wherever educated.

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