pathos

[pey-thos, -thohs, -thaws]

noun

1. 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.

2. pity.

3. Obsolete.,  suffering.

pathos

/ ˈpeɪθɒs /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of pathos¹

First recorded in 1570–80; from Greek páthos “suffering, sensation, experience,” akin to páschein “to suffer, feel, be affected”; pathetic ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of pathos¹

C17: from Greek: suffering; related to penthos sorrow

Example Sentences

A subtle pathos, along with the playwright’s verbal sophistication, prevents the play from degenerating into a collegiate vaudeville.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

From its first season to its last, “Friends” has celebrated Thanksgiving with the hijinks, hilarity and occasional pathos it deserves.

Read more on 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.

Read more on 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.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But he carries the pathos of the impressionable idiot.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• emotion 
• passion 
• poignancy