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.
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
Emma Grimsley’s soprano had the necessary brightness and coloratura flexibility for Manon, but her monochromatic timbre missed the character’s pathos.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 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
As I argued fleetingly in my discussion of pathos, the joke can do more than just perk up a drowsing audience.
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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