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
Even the sequences of obvious pathos are earned, over and over again.
From Salon • Mar. 21, 2026
As a reader might gather, “Neighbors” falls into the category of what is unkindly categorized as freak-show documentary—the characters are objects of morbid curiosity or, maybe, pathos.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 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
This carving, done with a pencil dug many times into the worn varnish of the desk, has the pathos of all vanished civilizations.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
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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