ˈsimpəthē, -thi noun
( -es )
Etymology: Latin sympathia state of feeling in common, from Greek sympatheia, from sympathēs having common feelings, sympathetic (from syn- + pathos feelings, emotion, experience) + -ia -y — more at pathos
1. archaic : correspondence in qualities, properties, or disposition : mutual suitability : concord
you are not young, no more am I; go to then, there's sympathy — Shakespeare
2.
a. : an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things or between persons and things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other
steel prices have advanced in this district in sympathy with rising prices elsewhere
the magical sympathy … supposed to exist between a man and any severed portion of his person, as his hair or nails — J.G.Frazer
b. : mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it
there is a purely physical sympathy : a very young child will cry because a brother or sister is crying — Bertrand Russell
c. : unity or harmony in action or effect
the most felicitous unity of general design … for every part is in complete sympathy with the scheme as a whole — Edwin Benson
3.
a. : inclination to think or feel alike : emotional or intellectual accord
sympathy is as essential as love in marriage
though not a member of the Society of Friends, I am in sympathy with their aims
b. : feeling of loyalty : tendency to favor or support : active interest
always identified in sympathy with the laboring classes — E.S.Bates
— often used in plural
radical sympathies
republican sympathies
they were Philadelphians, Quaker in their religious sympathies — Lucien Price
4.
a. : the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another : the character or fact of being sensitive to or affected by another's emotions, experiences, or especially sorrows
b. : the feeling or mental state brought about by such sensitivity : the expression or demonstration of this feeling
have sympathy for the poor
seek sympathy from a friend
a boy goes for sympathy and companionship to his mother and sisters, not often to his father — A.C.Benson
5. : the correlation existing between bodies capable of communicating their vibrational energy to one another through some medium
Synonyms:
pity , compassion , commiseration , condolence , ruth , empathy : sympathy is the most general term, ranging in meaning from friendly interest or agreement in taste or opinion to emotional identification, often accompanied by deep tenderness
in immediate sympathy with my desire to increase my … knowledge — David Fairchild
sympathies were … with the Roman Stoics — Havelock Ellis
satire had its roots not in hatred but in sympathy — Bliss Perry
pity has the strongest emotional connotation; the emotion may be one of tenderness, love, or respect induced by the magnitude of another's suffering or of fellowship with the sufferer
pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the human sufferer — James Joyce
pity that made you cry … not for this person or that person who is suffering, but … for the very nature of things … out of pity comes the balm which heals — William Saroyan
pity may suggest a tinge of contempt for one who is inferior whether because of suffering or from inherent weakness; there is also a frequent suggestion that the effect if not the purpose of pity is to keep the object in a weak or inferior state
pity for the man who could think of nothing better — T.S.Eliot
the parents of a crippled child should give him understanding and challenge rather than pity
compassion orig. meant fellowship in suffering between equals; now it denotes imaginative or emotional sharing of the distress or misfortune of another or others who are considered or treated as equals; it implies tenderness and understanding as well as an urgent desire to aid and spare
one of his neighbor women cooked a chicken and brought it in to him out of pure compassion — Willa Cather
with understanding, with compassion (so different from pity) she shows the sordid impact … on the lives of the natives — Sarah Campion
when Jesus came in his gentleness with his divine compassion — Robert Bridges †1930
but while compassion suggests a greater dignity in the object then pity often does, it also implies a greater detachment in the subject
as a priest he regards all history from that eminence of spiritual objectivity which is called compassion — W.F.Albright
commiseration and condolence agree in placing the emphasis on expression of a feeling for another's affliction, rather than on the feeling itself. commiseration denotes a spontaneous and vocal expression, often one made in public or by a crowd
there was a murmur of commiseration as Charles Darnay crossed the room … the soft and compassionate voices of women — Charles Dickens
condolence denotes a formal expression of sympathy especially for the loss of a relative through death and refers strictly to an observance of etiquette without any implication as to the underlying feeling
a condolence call
they received many condolences
ruth denotes softening of a stern or indifferent disposition
look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth — John Milton
empathy , of all the terms here represented, has the least emotional content; it describes a gift, often a cultivated gift, for vicarious feeling, but the feeling need not be one of sorrow; thus empathy is often used as a synonym for some senses of sympathy as well as in distinction from sympathy
what he lacks is not sympathy but empathy, the ability to put himself in the other fellow's place — G.W.Johnson
empathy is frequently employed with reference to a nonhuman object (as a literary character, an idea, culture, or work of art)
a fundamental component of the aesthetic attitude is sympathy, or — more accurately — empathy. In the presence of any work of art … the recipient … must surrender his independent and outstanding personality, to identify himself with the form or action presented by the artist — Herbert Read