pathos
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And in the crucial scene when Sonny is put on the phone with Leon, whom he calls his wife—Sonny’s motive is to pay for Leon’s sex-reassignment surgery—he strikes moving notes of pathos.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
Braff: I think that it’s Bill’s unique mix of comedy and pathos and emotion and fantasy.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2026
Gertrude never quite comes into focus, but the pathos of Ophelia, maddened by grief, is enhanced by the simple yet forceful way Izzard helplessly pounds her chest.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2026
A multiple Emmy-award winner, “The Pitt” has found what may be the perfect remedy for people with short attention spans, a weakness for pathos and a hunger for detail of the modern-medical variety.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 6, 2026
It’s worth saying: an appeal to pathos is not in and of itself a “cheat.”
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Vocabulary lists containing pathos
Argumentative Writing
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AP English Lit exam terms
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The AP English Exam: Rhetorical and Literary Terms 1
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