Pathos (Greek: πάθος, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%80%CE%AC%CE%B8%CE%BF%CF%82 (Translations)) is one of the three modes of persuasion in rhetoric (along with ethos and logos). Pathos appeals to the audience's emotions. It is a part of Aristotle's philosophies in rhetoric.

That quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, esp., that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality; as, the pathos of a picture, of a poem, or of a cry.

The quality or character of those emotions, traits, or experiences which are personal, and therefore restricted and evanescent; transitory and idiosyncratic dispositions or feelings as distinguished from those which are universal and deep-seated in character; -- opposed to ethos.

Suffering; the enduring of active stress or affliction.

A form of proof (a persuasive strategy) that appeals to the audience's emotions.

"Passion," in Greek; also "suffering." The word refers to the depths of feeling evoked by tragedy; it is at the root of our words "sympathy" and "empathy," which also describe the effect of drama on audience emotions.

Greek for suffering. In debate, appealing to pity. See the three appeals

a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow); "the film captured all the pathos of their situation"

a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others; "the blind are too often objects of pity"

a style that has the power to evoke feelings

An appeal to emotions. example- "(King George III of England) has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." Thomas Jefferson

A characteristic in literature that causes the reader to feel pity or grief, such as in Hardy's Jude the Obscure.

A mode of proof that relies on emotional appeals, where the speaker nurtures the emotions that already exist in the audience.

passion; emotions; experiential complex

Pathos (from the Greek paschein, "to suffer") is an appeal to another's pride or character in general. It is a means of persuasion. It is a part of Aristotle's philosophies in rhetoric. In its rhetorical sense, pathos is a writer or speaker's attempt to inspire an emotional reaction in an audience -- usually a deep feeling of suffering, but sometimes joy, pride, anger, humor, patriotism, or any of a dozen other emotions. In its critical sense, pathos signifies a scene or passage designed to evoke the feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow in a reader or viewer.

following Aristotle, persuasion that uses appeals that involve feelings, values, or emotions

Poetry (or other literature) which evokes pity or sadness in the reader e.g. Send No Money by Philip Larkin. Carried too far, pathos can become bathos.

The use of language in effective arguments to stir the feelings of an audience. See ethos and logos.

the emotion of pity or compassion; a element in representation which evokes pity