Phrase guide
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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noun
The attribution of human thoughts and feelings to inanimate objects.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: art, arts, literature, media, publishing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
the fallacy of attributing human feelings to inanimate objects; `the friendly sun' is an example of the pathetic fallacy
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fallacy, false belief
History
Coined by British cultural critic John Ruskin in 1856 in his work Modern Painters. Here, fallacy does not refer to a logical fallacy but should be understood as “a falsehood, something that is untrue”, while pathetic here means “caused by an excited state of the feelings”; thus, “emotional misrepresentation”, not “contemptible illogic”.
