You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)

Thankfully Wiktionary imported wholesale the old Webster's dictionary (due partly to it being in the public domain). It has the same multitude of meanings and examples, including those from the article. On top, of course, it's updated for very modern language and with quotations from literature and journalism closer to us in time.

Which is why I have three different methods for quick lookup in Wiktionary in the desktop browser, and whipped up an extension for FF mobile to look up the selection with one tap.

Wiktionary's definition of ‘pathos’ omits the first variant from Webster's, however I'd say I've never seen it used in that meaning and it sounds more like the original Greek sense. (Though the relation to ‘ethos’ should probably be mentioned.)

Alas, for my love to Wiktionary, I'm having trouble learning less-familiar words with it, because I'm hoping to use Anki for that purpose. Turns out, a scroll of different meanings is no good as an answer on a flash card since I'm yet to learn just the most prominent one. All points to me importing a simpler dictionary like the Oxford, and manually fiddling with subtler meanings where I need them.

I'm yet to find a thesaurus which would be as comprehensive and usable, with notes on the differences in meanings. For now, I'm employing thesaurus.com plus Wiktionary lookups—the thesaurus somehow just has more stuff and shades of meanings than other online ones, including established names like Merriam-Webster.

Fwiw, I've taken to always using the Collins dictionary, it explains words in a way that's meaningful and not entirely dry to me.

I think it has some of these 1911 Webster qualities.

Collins on flash: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/flash

Did anyone else find the writing in this post almost unbearable? It's deliberately showy in a way while also seeming self-conscious about being perceived as pretentious. The predictable dig at modernist architecture is exactly what I expect from this kind of prescriptive aesthetic paternalism.

Vocabulary.com is nice too. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/flash

Wiktionary has good etymologies for many words, including separate definition-etymology sections for these words in other languages (them still being explained in English), thus sometimes letting you explore much of the relation tree. As a bonus, its English definitions are imported from the old Webster's plus it's updated for very modern language. So you could look for apps packaging Wiktionary, or it might be available as a package for a universal dictionary app.

Another good source for etymologies is the Etymonline site―in particular it's better for figuring out when some figurative meanings and sayings entered the popular usage. Might also be available as an app.