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. )
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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.
Even the sequences of obvious pathos are earned, over and over again.
From Salon • Mar. 21, 2026
Emma Grimsley’s soprano had the necessary brightness and coloratura flexibility for Manon, but her monochromatic timbre missed the character’s pathos.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026
A multiple Emmy-award winner, “The Pitt” has found what may be the perfect remedy for people with short attention spans, a weakness for pathos and a hunger for detail of the modern-medical variety.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 6, 2026
There is romance, drama, pathos and the verbal berating of hotel staff and music video directors.
From Salon • Dec. 24, 2025
The whole scene was an unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
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.
