pathos

A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.

The feeling, as of sympathy or pity, so aroused.

That quality or character, as of a speech, an expression of the countenance, a work of art, etc., which awakens the emotion of pity, compassion, or sympathy; a power or influence that moves or touches the feelings; feeling.

Specifically In art, the quality of the personal, ephemeral, emotional, or sensual, as opposed to that, of the ideal, or ethos.

Suffering.

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.

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.

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.

A writer’s attempt to persuade an audience through appeals involving the use of strong emotions not strictly limited to pity.