PATHOS

pathos, poignancy

(noun) a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow); “the film captured all the pathos of their situation”

pathos

(noun) a style that has the power to evoke feelings

commiseration, pity, ruth, pathos

(noun) a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others; “the blind are too often objects of pity”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

pathos (countable and uncountable, plural pathoses)

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.

(rhetoric) A writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals involving the use of strong emotions such as pity.

(literature) An author's attempt to evoke a feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow for a character.

(theology, philosophy) 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.

Suffering; the enduring of active stress or affliction.

Anagrams

• Pashto, Potash, potash, sophta

Source: Wiktionary

Pa"thos, n. Etym: [L., from Gr. pati to suffer, E. patient.]

Definition: 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. T. Warton.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition