noun
sympathy
SIM-puh-thee/ˈsɪmpəθi/
A connection through shared feeling.
She feels an immediate sympathy with others who share her struggles.
Etymology
“Together” and “feeling” express fellow-feeling: being affected as another person is. This shared emotional state developed into the specific sense of compassion for another’s suffering.
In context
Your story has to be just sad enough that it gains sympathy, but not so sad that it makes you seem beyond help.
Emotions evoked by suffering, such as sympathy and empathy,
More examples
- He listens with sympathy as I describe my loss.
- We send our deepest sympathies to the family.
- Her sympathy for the striking workers leads her to support them.
Forms
sympathy · sympathies
sympathetic adjective — Showing understanding, concern, or shared feeling.
sympathize verb — To share or understand another person's feelings.
Similar words
- empathy
- Emphasizes understanding another's feelings from that person's perspective.
- compassion
- Emphasizes concern for suffering and a desire to help.
- affinity
- Emphasizes natural closeness or similarity, not necessarily concern.