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Pathos Entered English in the 1500s
The Greek word páthos means "experience, misfortune, emotion, condition,” and comes from Greek path-, meaning “experience, undergo, suffer.” In English, pathos usually refers to the element in an experience or in an artistic work that makes us feel compassion, pity, or sympathy. The word is a member of a big family: empathy is the ability to share someone else’s feelings. Pathetic (in its gentlest uses) describes things that move us to pity. Though pathology is not literally "the study of suffering," it is "the study of diseases." Other relatives of pathos include sympathy, apathy, and antipathy.
Examples of pathos in a Sentence
Garry Wills, New York Times Book Review, 10 Sept. 1989
Many schools at the end of the Depression were poor, but the threadbare nature of Christchurch was almost Dickensian in its pathos.
—William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, (1953) 1982
The struggle back to solvency was arduous, and the stubborn determination and reserves of strength that it called forth from him in his mid-forties made him all at once a figure of considerable pathos and heroism in my eyes, a cross of a kind between Captain Ahab and Willy Loman.
—Philip Roth, Reading Myself and Others, (1961) 1975
Our knowledge of his tragic end adds an element of pathos to the story of his early success.
Toni Fitzgerald, Forbes, 15 Sep. 2024
Farrell’s Oz, by contrast, is a cartoon — albeit a loveable one, infused with pathos and verve by the actor and painted with truly impressive makeup by Michael Marino.
—Christian Holub, EW.com, 12 Sep. 2024
As in Nine Perfect Strangers and, again, Expats, her murky past is a source of pathos as well as suspense.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 5 Sep. 2024
Nowhere is that pathos more acute than in the love letters that suddenly appear near the end of Dickinson’s life.
—Kamran Javadizadeh, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for pathos 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pathos.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near pathos
Cite this Entry
“Pathos.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pathos. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
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