noun · 11 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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Pronunciation
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UK:/ˈbeɪθɒs/
rhymes with -eɪθɒs
1
noun
Meaning 1
Overdone or treacly attempts to inspire pathos.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A risible failure on the part of a work of art to properly affect its audience, particularly owing to
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Topics: art, arts, literature, media, publishing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A risible failure on the part of a work of art to properly affect its audience, particularly owing to:
An anticlimax: an abrupt transition in style or subject from high to low.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Topics: art, arts, literature, media, publishing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
A risible failure on the part of a work of art to properly affect its audience, particularly owing to:
A banality: an unaffectingly clichéd or trite treatment of a topic.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Topics: art, arts, literature, media, publishing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
A risible failure on the part of a work of art to properly affect its audience, particularly owing to:
Immaturity: a lack of serious treatment of a topic.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Topics: art, arts, literature, media, publishing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
A risible failure on the part of a work of art to properly affect its audience, particularly owing to:
A hyperbole: excessiveness.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Topics: art, arts, literature, media, publishing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
noun
Meaning 7
The ironic use of such failure for satiric or humorous effect.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Topics: art, arts, literature, media, publishing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
A nadir, a low point particularly in one's career.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncommon, uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
9
noun
Meaning 9
a change from a serious subject to a disappointing one
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: expressive style, style
11
noun
Meaning 11
insincere pathos
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: mawkishness
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sentimentality
History
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βάθος (báthos, “depth”). Employed ironically following Alexander Pope's Peri Bathous, lampooning various errors in contemporary writers.
Across languages
Translations
7 source translations are retained for this English entry.
French:
bathos
— unintentional failure at artistic effect
German:
Bathos
— unintentional failure at artistic effect
Polish:
batos
— unintentional failure at artistic effect