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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

pathos en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˈpeɪˌθɔs/ (US)
  • /ˈpæθɒs/ (UK) spelling pronunciation
  • /ˈpeɪˌθoʊs/ (US)
  • /ˈpæˌθoʊs/ (US)
  • /ˈpeɪˌθɑs/ (US)
  • /ˈpɑːθɒs/ (UK)
  • /ˈpeɪˌθɒs/ (UK)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “suffering”).

Meanings

  1. (countable, uncountable) 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.
    • His voice had a genuine pathos now, and his large brown hands perceptibly trembled. 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From The Madding Crowd:
    • 20 August 2018, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett in The Guardian, Young women are smashing it at Edinburgh as the #MeToo legacy kicks in Pritchard-McLean’s show is perfectly constructed, and at times deeply moving to the point where some audience members were near tears, yet the pathos is undercut by true belly laughs – but don’t trust me, read the reviews.
    • She could not see, for her whitish eyes were covered with a horny film. Oh, the horrible pathos of the sight! But she could still speak. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
  2. (countable, rhetoric, uncountable) A form of rhetoric in which the writer or speaker uses emotional appeals to the audience as the main form of persuasion.
    • It was impossible to endure the jargon and the affected pathos of the squire any longer. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 250:
  3. (countable, uncountable) An author's attempt to evoke a feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow for a character.
  4. (countable, uncountable) 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.
  5. (countable, uncountable) Suffering; the enduring of active stress or affliction.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
pathoses Number=Plur lexicographic

Coordinates

ethos · logos

Deriveds

hathos · pathotic

Relateds

pathogen · sympathy · pathetic · psychopathy · pathology · empathy · antipathy · pathic · apathy

Synonyms

patheticness

Translations (27)

cmn 哀婉 (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · ru подъём (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · fr pathétique (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · cmn 感傷 /感伤 (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · cmn 感染力 (a writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals) · sv patos (a writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals) · ru энтузиа́зм (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · ru па́фос (a writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals) · pl patos (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · pt patos (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · da patos (a writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals) · eo patoso (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · pt páthos (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · el πάθος (a writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals) · cmn 悲愴 /悲怆 (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · ru па́фос (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · ja パトス (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · bg патос (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · pt pathos (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · es pathos (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · pl patos (a writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals) · fi tunteisiin vetoaminen (a writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals) · fi paatos (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · ru воодушевле́ние (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · el πάθος (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · ja 悲愴 (the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions) · fi paatos (a writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals)