PATHOS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Pathos

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/pˈeɪθɑs/ Listen

noun

Pathos n. That quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, esp., that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality; as, the pathos of a picture, of a poem, or of a cry. "The combination of incident, and the pathos of catastrophe."

The quality or character of those emotions, traits, or experiences which are personal, and therefore restricted and evanescent; transitory and idiosyncratic dispositions or feelings as distinguished from those which are universal and deep-seated in character; opposed to ethos.

Suffering; the enduring of active stress or affliction.

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Etymology of 'Pathos'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pathos" Quotes from Famous Books

... were German shells or French fleas. It was astonishing what a lot of humour passed through this central registry from men who were having a tragic time for England's sake; but sometimes the military Censor had to blow his nose with violence because Private Atkins lapsed into pathos, and wrote of tragedy ...

— The Soul of the War • Philip Gibbs

... green blind. It must have been this silvery quietness of color which in some subtle way affected me with the feeling of a continual Sabbath; and this was strengthened by the bells chiming hour after hour. The pathos, penitence, and hope expressed by the flying notes colored the intervals with faint and delicate memories. They haunted my dreams, and I heard with unutterable longing the dreamy chimes pealing from some dim and vast cathedral of the cosmic memory, until the peace they tolled became almost a ...

— Imaginations and Reveries • (A.E.) George William Russell

... It held beauty of curve and fullness and color that could not hide a certain sadness and bitterness. Then the whole flashing brown face changed for Jean. He saw that it was young, full of passion and restraint, possessing a power which grew on him. This, with her shame and pathos and the fact that she craved respect, gave a leap to ...

— To the Last Man • Zane Grey

... plainly was the lady we have followed,— But with a certain grace no modiste's art Could have contrived. Youthful she was, and yet A gravity not pertinent to youth Gave to her face the pathos of that look Which a too early thoughtfulness imparts; And this was Linda,—Linda little changed, Though nearer by four years to womanhood Than when we parted from her in the shadow Of a great woe. Preoccupied she seemed Now with some painful thought, and in a slow, Half-automatic ...

— The Woman Who Dared • Epes Sargent

... laughed, did not the heart of Eaglenose jump? and when she let drops fall from her stars, was not his heart heavy? Afterwards, when she began to think and talk of the Great Manitou, did not the Indian's ears tingle and his heart burn? It is true," continued the youth, with a touch of pathos in his tone which went straight to the girl's heart, "it is true that Eaglenose dwells far below the skipping one. He creeps like the beetle on the ground. She flies like the wild swan among the clouds. ...

— The Prairie Chief • R.M. Ballantyne

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