Pa″thos (pā″thŏs), n. [L., from Gr. πάθοσ a suffering, passion, fr. παθει̑ν, πασ́χειν, to suffer; cf. πόνοσ toil, L. pati to suffer, E. patient.] 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 combination of incident, and the pathos of catastrophe. T. Warton.