Sympathy
noun
Feeling sad because someone else is in a bad situation.
I have sympathy for those who lost their homes in the fire.
Often appears as...
- sympathy for
- sympathy towards
noun
Agreement with or understanding of thoughts, opinions, or feelings of others.
She had no sympathy for his political ideas.
Often appears as...
- sympathy with
- show sympathy
noun
Support or approval for something.
There's a lot of public sympathy for the teachers' demands.
Often appears as...
- win sympathy
- earn sympathy
noun
In medicine, it means one part of the body responds to problems in another part.
There was a sympathetic response in the patient's left eye due to the injury in the right.
Often appears as...
- sympathetic response
- sympathy pain
Usage tips
Academic
noun
Feeling sad because someone else is in a bad situation.
I have sympathy for those who lost their homes in the fire.
Often appears as...
- sympathy for
- sympathy towards
noun
Agreement with or understanding of thoughts, opinions, or feelings of others.
She had no sympathy for his political ideas.
Often appears as...
- sympathy with
- show sympathy
noun
Support or approval for something.
There's a lot of public sympathy for the teachers' demands.
Often appears as...
- win sympathy
- earn sympathy
noun
In medicine, it means one part of the body responds to problems in another part.
There was a sympathetic response in the patient's left eye due to the injury in the right.
Often appears as...
- sympathetic response
- sympathy pain
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Connection
Use this when you genuinely feel sad about someone else's misfortune and can emotionally relate to them.
I felt deep sympathy seeing the flood victims.
Pro Tip 2/3Offer Comfort
Expressing 'sympathy' can show support and offer comfort to someone during tough times.
I sent a sympathy card to the bereaved family.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Always Reciprocal
'Sympathy' does not always mean the feeling is shared; one might feel it without a response.
Despite my sympathy for Jane, she remained distant.
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Connection
Use this when you genuinely feel sad about someone else's misfortune and can emotionally relate to them.
I felt deep sympathy seeing the flood victims.
Pro Tip 2/3Offer Comfort
Expressing 'sympathy' can show support and offer comfort to someone during tough times.
I sent a sympathy card to the bereaved family.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Always Reciprocal
'Sympathy' does not always mean the feeling is shared; one might feel it without a response.
Despite my sympathy for Jane, she remained distant.
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Connection
Use this when you genuinely feel sad about someone else's misfortune and can emotionally relate to them.
I felt deep sympathy seeing the flood victims.
Pro Tip 2/3Offer Comfort
Expressing 'sympathy' can show support and offer comfort to someone during tough times.
I sent a sympathy card to the bereaved family.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Always Reciprocal
'Sympathy' does not always mean the feeling is shared; one might feel it without a response.
Despite my sympathy for Jane, she remained distant.
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Video examples
Why do we cry? The three...
such as an increased heart rate and slower breathing. But scientists still aren't sure exactly how or why the tears themselves are helpful. They may be a social mechanism to elicit sympathy or show submission. But some studies have also found that emotional tears contain higher levels of stress hormones,
Video examples
If I should have a...
and mainly exaggerated, but the only spoken-word poetry that I had seen up until that point was mainly indignant, so I thought that's what was expected of me. The first time that I performed, the audience of teenagers hooted and hollered their sympathy, and when I came off the stage, I was shaking.
Video examples
What would you do if...
have Alzheimer's the answer to this question would be the key to empathy versus sympathy to staying connected to my grandmother she forgot who we all were I remember my aha moment the idea that fiction would be the place to find the answer to this question stories give our
Video examples
Who was Confucius? -...
became one of China's greatest philosophers. Born to a nobleman but raised in poverty from a very young age following the untimely death of his father, Confucius developed what would become a lifelong sympathy for the suffering of the common people.
Video examples
Is the world getting...
We are endowed with the power to combine ideas recursively, to have thoughts about our thoughts. We have an instinct for language, allowing us to share the fruits of our ingenuity and experience. We are deepened with the capacity for sympathy,
Video examples
The Dirty Side Of...
forget to sit on it or they'll be practicing changing over the egg will accidentally roll out of the nest i feel a little bit of sympathy for the poor skewer because to be honest this egg was never going to turn into a chick
Video examples
Close-up card magic with...
You see, I don't work with prestige, so always do mistakes. It doesn't matter to me. And now and then, I get some extra sympathy points, right? One, two, three, four -- yes,
Video examples
What I learned about...
I felt nothing. Not because I'm a psychopath, but because I never learned the concept of compassion. Only, I felt compassion, empathy and sympathy in my heart
Video examples
Jim & Jamie Dutcher: The...
interactions camaraderie the reaction to death of a pack member the digging of a den and birth and raising a pups we even experienced and saw sympathy guilt
Video examples
We don't "move on" from...
And just as permanently. Long after you get your last sympathy card or your last hot dish. Like, we don't look at the people around us
Video examples
Why do we cry? The three...
such as an increased heart rate and slower breathing. But scientists still aren't sure exactly how or why the tears themselves are helpful. They may be a social mechanism to elicit sympathy or show submission. But some studies have also found that emotional tears contain higher levels of stress hormones,
Video examples
If I should have a...
and mainly exaggerated, but the only spoken-word poetry that I had seen up until that point was mainly indignant, so I thought that's what was expected of me. The first time that I performed, the audience of teenagers hooted and hollered their sympathy, and when I came off the stage, I was shaking.
Video examples
What would you do if...
have Alzheimer's the answer to this question would be the key to empathy versus sympathy to staying connected to my grandmother she forgot who we all were I remember my aha moment the idea that fiction would be the place to find the answer to this question stories give our
Video examples
Who was Confucius? -...
became one of China's greatest philosophers. Born to a nobleman but raised in poverty from a very young age following the untimely death of his father, Confucius developed what would become a lifelong sympathy for the suffering of the common people.
Video examples
Is the world getting...
We are endowed with the power to combine ideas recursively, to have thoughts about our thoughts. We have an instinct for language, allowing us to share the fruits of our ingenuity and experience. We are deepened with the capacity for sympathy,
Video examples
The Dirty Side Of...
forget to sit on it or they'll be practicing changing over the egg will accidentally roll out of the nest i feel a little bit of sympathy for the poor skewer because to be honest this egg was never going to turn into a chick
Video examples
Close-up card magic with...
You see, I don't work with prestige, so always do mistakes. It doesn't matter to me. And now and then, I get some extra sympathy points, right? One, two, three, four -- yes,
Video examples
What I learned about...
I felt nothing. Not because I'm a psychopath, but because I never learned the concept of compassion. Only, I felt compassion, empathy and sympathy in my heart
Video examples
Jim & Jamie Dutcher: The...
interactions camaraderie the reaction to death of a pack member the digging of a den and birth and raising a pups we even experienced and saw sympathy guilt
Video examples
We don't "move on" from...
And just as permanently. Long after you get your last sympathy card or your last hot dish. Like, we don't look at the people around us
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Rush Limbaugh
American Entertainer
I am convinced that, despite what you think of Obama, I don't think Obama has a person-to-person connection with people. I think people love him because of his race and feel sorry for him, object of sympathy. I think people feel he's a victim, he portrays himself as a victim of America; he gets sympathy that way.
Quote examples
Alan Rickman
British Actor
I have every sympathy for writers. It's a mystery to me what they do. I can edit. I can cross out and say, 'I'm not saying that' or, 'How about we move this to here? Wouldn't that make that bit of the story better?' But where any of it comes from is beyond me. I will never write a play or a novel.
Quote examples
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Roman Statesman
The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words.
Quote examples
Jim Brown
American Athlete
AI don't make a big thing out of my race. If you try to preach, people give you a little sympathy and then they want to get out of the way. So you don't preach; you tell the story.
Quote examples
William James
American Philosopher
The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.
Quote examples
Woodrow Wilson
American President
Interest does not tie nations together; it sometimes separates them. But sympathy and understanding does unite them.
Quote examples
Terry Pratchett
English Author
I didn't go to university. Didn't even finish A-levels. But I have sympathy for those who did.
Quote examples
Henry David Thoreau
American Author
It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.
Quote examples
Oscar Wilde
Irish Poet
If there was less sympathy in the world, there would be less trouble in the world.
Quote examples
Toni Kroos
German Athlete
There's little place for sympathy in football.
Quote examples
Rush Limbaugh
American Entertainer
I am convinced that, despite what you think of Obama, I don't think Obama has a person-to-person connection with people. I think people love him because of his race and feel sorry for him, object of sympathy. I think people feel he's a victim, he portrays himself as a victim of America; he gets sympathy that way.
Quote examples
Alan Rickman
British Actor
I have every sympathy for writers. It's a mystery to me what they do. I can edit. I can cross out and say, 'I'm not saying that' or, 'How about we move this to here? Wouldn't that make that bit of the story better?' But where any of it comes from is beyond me. I will never write a play or a novel.
Quote examples
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Roman Statesman
The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words.
Quote examples
Jim Brown
American Athlete
AI don't make a big thing out of my race. If you try to preach, people give you a little sympathy and then they want to get out of the way. So you don't preach; you tell the story.
Quote examples
William James
American Philosopher
The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.
Quote examples
Woodrow Wilson
American President
Interest does not tie nations together; it sometimes separates them. But sympathy and understanding does unite them.
Quote examples
Terry Pratchett
English Author
I didn't go to university. Didn't even finish A-levels. But I have sympathy for those who did.
Quote examples
Henry David Thoreau
American Author
It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.
Quote examples
Oscar Wilde
Irish Poet
If there was less sympathy in the world, there would be less trouble in the world.
Quote examples
Toni Kroos
German Athlete
There's little place for sympathy in football.
Example 1 of 10
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