Sympathy
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈsɪmpəθi/
Origin
From Middle French sympathie, from Late Latin sympathia, from Ancient Greek συμπάθεια, from σÏν (sun, "with, together") + πάθος (pathos, "suffering").
Full definition of sympathy
Noun
sympathy
(plural sympathies)- A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another; compassion.
- The ability to share the feelings of another;
- A mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.
- 1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 67, The Renaissance Episteme (Totem Books, Icon Books; ISBN 1840460865)Sympathy likened anything to anything else in universal attraction, e.g. the fate of men to the course of the planets.
Usage notes
Used similarly to empathy, interchangeably in looser usage. In stricter usage, empathy is stronger and more intimate, while sympathy is weaker and more distant; see .