How to Use pathos in a Sentence

pathos

noun
  • Our knowledge of his tragic end adds an element of pathos to the story of his early success.
  • Each of the three strands is approached for pathos, not shock.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Jan. 2024
  • Which is not to say there’s not some pathos and dark subtext here and there.
    — Andy Meek, BGR, 20 Apr. 2021
  • Give her the chance to play pathos, and Squibb can crack your stony heart in half.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 24 Sep. 2025
  • This is where the show’s aforementioned mood of pathos comes in.
    — Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 7 Apr. 2023
  • Spare me the pathos, the redemption arc.
    — Chloe Wilson, The New York Review of Books, 19 Feb. 2026
  • The game was historic, as well, for its after-the-fact pathos.
    — Ben Yagoda, WSJ, 5 Oct. 2022
  • Jones sang with pathos, feeling every word.
    — Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 8 Feb. 2026
  • The character had a sneaky pathos.
    — Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
  • The pain was etched on his face in the passionate dance, which added to the pathos.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 19 Nov. 2019
  • The pathos — the edge between laughter and tears has rarely been so near and so fine.
    — Juliana Barbassa, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025
  • Both guys are great, just great, though Monaghan gets my nod for range and pathos.
    — John Timpane, Philly.com, 22 Jan. 2018
  • Strangely enough though, the pathos resonates.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 28 Aug. 2025
  • But Ostermeier’s show turns the script from pathos to bathos.
    — Helen Shaw, Vulture, 22 May 2022
  • The cast is excellent, landing the jokes no less than the pathos.
    — New York Times, 6 Dec. 2020
  • The comedy and the pathos and the edge and the emotion comes from truth.
    — Pat Saperstein, Variety, 14 June 2026
  • The easy answer there, of course, is that there’s pathos in still being able to read the names.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 28 Oct. 2024
  • Basketballs filled with pathos plants hang from the ceiling.
    — Kansas City Star, 5 Dec. 2025
  • The ending, which attempts to meld tragedy and pathos, struck me as overwrought.
    — Walter Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Feb. 2018
  • If there’s a gap between the two, how much hope, how much irony and how much pathos exist in that gap?
    — Washington Post, 30 Nov. 2023
  • Kruger, who is on screen for every frame, carries the film with both pathos and fierceness.
    — Laura Demarco, cleveland.com, 7 Mar. 2018
  • And she is seen to be a figure of some pathos, although a rather distant figure.
    — Charles Champlin, latimes.com, 13 Apr. 2018
  • This is already a lot of premise, and a lot of pathos, for a single, six-episode series to take on.
    — Judy Berman, TIME, 31 May 2024
  • And for all the pathos of the more dramatic moments, there’s a lot of humor in the mix.
    — Ed Masley, azcentral, 18 Apr. 2018
  • Twenty-five years in three sentences, the pathos all in the economy.
    — Charles Arrowsmith, Los Angeles Times, 26 Feb. 2024
  • The lyricism, tenderness and pathos of the moments of respite touch the same heights.
    — The Economist, 7 June 2019
  • Not just his — though his clowning often reaches the pathos level of the best silent movies.
    — New York Times, 18 Aug. 2021
  • As the season progresses, though, the pathos largely gives way to farce.
    — Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 23 Aug. 2021
  • But there's real pathos in between the lines and endless pints of lager — even maybe a little heart.
    — Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 22 Apr. 2022
  • Here, Petrenko was not fast but slow, so slow that Tchaikovskian pathos lost its pretense.
    — Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pathos.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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