sympathy
/ˈsɪm.pə.θi/ noun
Forms sympathies
- noun A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.
- noun (in the plural) The formal expression of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune.
- noun The ability to share the feelings of another.
- noun Inclination to think or feel alike; emotional or intellectual accord; common feeling.
- noun (in the plural) Support in the form of shared feelings or opinions.
- noun Feeling of loyalty; tendency towards, agreement with or approval of an opinion or aim; a favorable attitude. “Many people in Hollywood were blacklisted merely because they were suspected of Communist sympathies.”
- noun An affinity, association or mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.
- noun Mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it.
Synonyms
compassion pity bowels commiseration empathy fellow feeling mercy remorse rue ruth tenderheartedness loving-kindness understanding
Antonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French sympathie, from Late Latin sympathīa (“feeling in common”), from Ancient Greek σῠμπᾰ́θειᾰ (sŭmpắtheiă, “fellow feeling”), from σῠμπᾰθής (sŭmpăthḗs, “affected by like feelings; exerting mutual influence, interacting”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, “-y”, nominal suffix). Equivalent to sym- (“acting or considered together”) + -pathy (“feeling”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Feeling corresponding to that which another feels; the quality of being affected by the affection of another, with feelings correspondent in kind, if not in degree; fellow-feeling.
- noun An agreement of affections or inclinations, or a conformity of natural temperament, which causes persons to be pleased, or in accord, with one another; as, there is perfect sympathy between them.
Etymology [F. sympathie, L. sympathia, Gr. Syn-, and Pathos.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sympathy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details