Ethos - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: Ethos

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

e·thos

Audio Help [ee-thos, ee-thohs, eth-os, -ohs] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	Sociology. the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period: In the Greek ethos the individual was highly valued.

2.	the character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc.

3.	the moral element in dramatic literature that determines a character's action rather than his or her thought or emotion.

[Origin: 1850–55; < Gk: custom, habit, character

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Ethos

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

e·thos Audio Help (ē'thŏs') Pronunciation Key
n. The disposition, character, or fundamental values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement: "They cultivated a subversive alternative ethos" (Anthony Burgess).

[Greek ēthos, character; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ethos

revived by Palgrave in 1851 from Gk. ethos "moral character, nature, disposition, habit, custom," from suffixed form of PIE base *s(w)e- (see idiom). An important concept in Aristotle (e.g. "Rhetoric" II xii-xiv).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

ethos
noun
(anthropology) the distinctive spirit of a culture or an era; "the Greek ethos"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Ethos

E"thos\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ? character. See Ethic.]

1. The character, sentiment, or disposition of a community or people, considered as a natural endowment; the spirit which actuates manners and customs; also, the characteristic tone or genius of an institution or social organization.

2. ([AE]sthetics) The traits in a work of art which express the ideal or typic character -- character as influenced by the ethos (sense 1) of a people -- rather than realistic or emotional situations or individual character in a narrow sense; -- opposed to pathos.

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ETHOS

ETHOS: in Acronym Finder

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