pathetic fallacy
noun
: the ascription of human traits or feelings to inanimate nature (as in cruel sea)
Examples of pathetic fallacy in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The pathetic fallacy hasn’t been put to such good use in fiction since Wuthering Heights.
—
Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
Munch treated nature not as a sentimental projection, a consolation, a pathetic fallacy, but as something animated, interconnected and potentially annihilating.
—Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 22 June 2023
The pathetic fallacy — the almost irresistible tendency to project human feelings on inanimate things, like the weather — inclines us to remember the winters during periods of crisis — wars, economic depressions and pandemics — as particularly dark, no matter how clement the weather.
—Washington Post, 20 Dec. 2020
The skies are heavy with rain and pathetic fallacy; rarely does a film feel quite so frigid, so damp to the touch.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 1 Dec. 2022
The problem begins when that feeling is passed off as fact, in a kind of reverse pathetic fallacy, as if our emotions reflected the state of the planet.
—Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 5 July 2021
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Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
Munch treated nature not as a sentimental projection, a consolation, a pathetic fallacy, but as something animated, interconnected and potentially annihilating.
—Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 22 June 2023
The pathetic fallacy — the almost irresistible tendency to project human feelings on inanimate things, like the weather — inclines us to remember the winters during periods of crisis — wars, economic depressions and pandemics — as particularly dark, no matter how clement the weather.
—Washington Post, 20 Dec. 2020
The skies are heavy with rain and pathetic fallacy; rarely does a film feel quite so frigid, so damp to the touch.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 1 Dec. 2022
The problem begins when that feeling is passed off as fact, in a kind of reverse pathetic fallacy, as if our emotions reflected the state of the planet.
—Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 5 July 2021
Cite this Entry
“Pathetic fallacy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pathetic%20fallacy. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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