ethos

ethos [ee-thos, ee-thohs, eth-os, -ohs] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for ethos on Thesaurus.com 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 of ethos 1850–55; Greek: custom, habit, character Related Words for ethos ideology, mentality, spirit, mindset, code, psychology, culture, mind, psyche, attitude, values, principles, beliefs Examples from the Web for ethos Contemporary Examples of ethos

When Cocker took on board the black American ethos, he turned it into something completely different.

The Greatest Rock Voice of All Time Belonged to Joe Cocker

Ted Gioia

December 23, 2014

But very little of the ISIS ethos has to do with hitting the Freedom Tower or the Capitol Dome.

Iraq Is Not Our War Anymore. Let It Be Iran’s Problem.

Christopher Dickey

July 17, 2014

As AOL evolved, this ethos of personalization began to permeate the entire user experience.

We’re All Still Secretly Using Our 1990s AOL Screen Names. Why?

Andrew Romano

January 23, 2014

It was a feel-good tale that reinforced the ethos of a merit-based free society.

Why Do You Hate Justin Bieber?

Rawiya Kameir

December 26, 2013

Now, the ethos of the Internet offers a new way to define rubes: as the people we ought to ignore.

From Smarm To Snark, We’re All Soldiers In The War On Obscurity

James Poulos

December 7, 2013

Historical Examples of ethos

What each nation stands for, its ethos, its personality, must be made clear.

The Psychology of Nations

G.E. Partridge

The ethos of the satiric persona was something they could not understand.

Two Poems Against Pope

Leonard Welsted

I can find no passage in which this source of ethos is indicated.

The Modes of Ancient Greek Music

David Binning Monro

It is “ethical” or “moral” in the sense of conforming to the ethos or mores of the group.

Ethics

John Dewey and James Hayden Tufts

They were criminals, by their own ethos, when they desecrated our dead.

The Leicestershires beyond Baghdad

Edward John Thompson

British Dictionary definitions for ethos ethos noun

1. the distinctive character, spirit, and attitudes of a people, culture, era, etcthe revolutionary ethos

Word Origin for ethos C19: from Late Latin: habit, from Greek Word Origin and History for ethos n.

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