pathetic fallacy

American  

noun

1. the endowment of nature, inanimate objects, etc., with human traits and feelings, as in the smiling skies; the angry sea.

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pathetic fallacy British  

noun

1. (in literature) the presentation of inanimate objects in nature as possessing human feelings

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Etymology

Origin of pathetic fallacy

Coined by John Ruskin in Modern Painters Vol. III, Part IV (1856)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pathetic fallacy

With pathetic fallacy worthy of Shakespeare, rain and wind lashed the island of Manhattan as I clutched my voice recorder from the back seat of my taxi heading uptown.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2019

Climate change is, of course, a kind pathetic fallacy come to life, our own contempt for nature reflected back to us in a distorted and grotesque form.

From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2016

Mostly, heckling is just one example of the pathetic fallacy of fandom, that those of us in the seats are part of the action, essential to our team’s success—that we matter.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 8, 2014

The pathetic fallacy hardly intrudes, so acute are the observations.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 22, 2013

The so-called "pathetic fallacy" is an excellent illustration of this.

From Human Traits and their Social Significance by Edman, Irwin