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”; cf. pathetic ( def. )
Compare meaning
How does pathos compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Pathos is a quality that stirs emotions. A song with a lot of pathos hits you right in the heart. You ever notice how some songs or movies appeal to your brains, while others appeal to your feelings? The ones that are all about feeling are full of pathos, an appeal to emotions that originally meant "suffering" in Greek. Often, this word has to do specifically with pity and sympathy: when someone tells a story about people suffering that makes you feel for them, that's pathos.
Vocabulary lists containing pathos
Argumentative Writing
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AP English Lit exam terms
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The AP English Exam: Rhetorical and Literary Terms 1
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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.
And in the crucial scene when Sonny is put on the phone with Leon, whom he calls his wife—Sonny’s motive is to pay for Leon’s sex-reassignment surgery—he strikes moving notes of pathos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Even the sequences of obvious pathos are earned, over and over again.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
Instead it ventures into something creator Seth MacFarlane and company usually avoid, genuine pathos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
Gertrude never quite comes into focus, but the pathos of Ophelia, maddened by grief, is enhanced by the simple yet forceful way Izzard helplessly pounds her chest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026
This carving, done with a pencil dug many times into the worn varnish of the desk, has the pathos of all vanished civilizations.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
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.
