e⋅thos
[ee-thos, ee-thohs, eth-os, -ohs] 
| 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. |
1850–55; < Gk: custom, habit, character
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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| e·thos (ē'thŏs') 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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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.Cite This Source
ethos
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ethos
in rhetoric, the character or emotions of a speaker or writer that are expressed in the attempt to persuade an audience. It is distinguished from pathos, which is the emotion the speaker or writer hopes to induce in the audience. The two words were distinguished in a broader sense by ancient Classical authors, who used pathos when referring to the violent emotions and ethos to mean the calmer ones. Ethos was the natural disposition or moral character, an abiding quality, and pathos a temporary and often violent emotional state. For Renaissance writers the distinction was a different one: ethos described character and pathos an emotional appeal.
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