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.
So much recent blockbuster filmmaking has been about embedding heart-wrenching pathos into the nostalgic elements we know and love.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Berlant describes their shared sensibility, the ability to simultaneously play comedy and pathos, as a kind of freedom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
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
Even the sequences of obvious pathos are earned, over and over again.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
It participates in the pathos appeal inasmuch as it stirs an audience’s emotions to laughter—but more importantly, it participates in the ethos appeal, inasmuch as laughter is based on a set of common assumptions.
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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