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.