What does "pathos" mean?

The quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, especially that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality.

What is a synonym for "pathos"?

Common synonyms include: commiseration, bathos, benevolence, bitterness, bleakness, caring.

Pathos

//ˈpeɪˌθɑs// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1
The quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, especially that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality. countable, uncountable
"His voice had a genuine pathos now, and his large brown hands perceptibly trembled."
2
a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow) wordnet
3
A form of rhetoric in which the writer or speaker uses emotional appeals to the audience as the main form of persuasion. countable, rhetoric, uncountable
"It was impossible to endure the jargon and the affected pathos of the squire any longer."
4
a style that has the power to evoke feelings wordnet
5
An author's attempt to evoke a feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow for a character. countable, uncountable

Show 3 more definitions

6
a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others wordnet
7
In theology and existentialist ethics following Kierkegaard and Heidegger, a deep and abiding commitment of the heart, as in the notion of "finding your passion" as an important aspect of a fully lived, engaged life. countable, uncountable
8
Suffering; the enduring of active stress or affliction. countable, uncountable