adj. & n.
--adj.
1. of, showing, or expressing sympathy.
2 due to sympathy.
3 likeable or capable of evoking sympathy.
4 (of a person) friendly and cooperative.
5 (foll. by to) inclined to favour (a proposal etc.) (was most sympathetic to the idea).
6 (of a landscape etc.) that touches the feelings by association etc.
7 (of a pain etc.) caused by a pain or injury to someone else or in another part of the body.
8 (of a sound, resonance, or string) sounding by a vibration communicated from another vibrating object.
9 a designating the part of the nervous system consisting of nerves leaving the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spinal cord and connecting with the nerve cells in or near the viscera (see PARASYMPATHETIC). b (of a nerve or ganglion) belonging to this system.
--n.
1. a sympathetic nerve.
2 the sympathetic system.
Phrases and idioms:
sympathetic magic a type of magic that seeks to achieve an effect by performing an associated action or using an associated thing.
Derivatives:
sympathetically adv.
Etymology: SYMPATHY, after pathetic