pathos

PAY-thosnoun

Meaning a quality in a story, speech or scene that stirs pity or sadness

Memory hook PATH-os: the sad PATH home. In the school play, the lost puppy walks its lonely path home through the rain, and the audience reaches for tissues: the scene is full of pathos.

The movie’s last scene, with the old dog waiting by the door, is full of pathos.

In context The speech was not clever or funny, but its pathos moved everyone; by the end, many listeners were quietly wiping their eyes.

Similar poignancy, pity, sadness, emotion

From Greek pathos, “suffering, feeling.”