noun
pathos
PAY-thahs/ˈpeɪθɑːs/
A quality that evokes pity, sadness, or tender emotion.
The abandoned toy added pathos to the scene.
Etymology
Greek pathos meant suffering or emotion, literally what befalls someone. In English, the focus shifts to the quality that makes an observer feel sorrow or tender sympathy.
In context
…the pathos or “ahness” of things. It’s a valuable awareness of impermanence, both a kind of gentle, transient sadness…
comedies with pathos that I watch when I'm sad.
More examples
- Her quiet account carried more pathos than a dramatic speech.
- The film balanced humor with genuine pathos.
- He conveyed the character's loneliness with moving pathos.
Forms
pathos
Similar words
- poignancy
- Poignancy evokes sharply touching emotion; pathos especially arouses pity or tender sadness.
- sentimentality
- Sentimentality can imply excessive or artificial feeling; pathos need not be excessive.