pathos.

An emotional quality that draws out pity, sympathy, or sorrow.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• the pathos of a scene
• unexpected pathos

On the page

The abandoned toys gave the room an unexpected pathos.

The scene’s pathos came from what the father could not say.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.