pathos

ot noun

1. The quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, especially that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality.
2. A writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals involving the use of strong emotions such as pity.
3. An author's attempt to evoke a feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow for a character.
4. In theology and existentialist ethics following Kierkegaard and Heidegger, a deep and abiding commitment of the heart, as in the notion of "finding your passion" as an important aspect of a fully lived, engaged life.