Noun

1. 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.
   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From The Madding Crowd, 1874:

     His voice had a genuine pathos now, and his large brown hands perceptibly trembled.

2. A writer's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals involving the use of strong emotions not strictly limited to pity.
3. An author's attempt to evoke a feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow for a character.
4. 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.

Related terms

• antipathy
• empathy
• pathetic
• patience
• patient
• pathology
• pathogen
• sympathy
• psychopathy