Definition of EMPATHY

empathy

Plural: empathies

Noun

  • The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
  • understanding and entering into another's feelings
  • Identification with or understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person.
  • The capacity to understand another person's point of view or the result of such understanding.
  • A paranormal ability to psychically read another person's emotions.
  • MDMA.

Examples

  • She had a lot of empathy for her neighbor; she knew what it was like to lose a parent too.
  • Showing EMPATHY, he avoided blocking his opponent’s potential bingo space.

Origin / Etymology

A twentieth-century borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empátheia, literally “passion”) (formed from ἐν (en, “in, at”) + πάθος (páthos, “feeling”)), equivalent to em- + -pathy, coined by Edward Bradford Titchener in 1909 to translate German Einfühlung. The modern word in Greek εμπάθεια (empátheia) has an opposite meaning denoting strong negative feelings and prejudice against someone.

Synonyms

ecstasy, fellow feeling

Scrabble Score: 17

empathy: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
empathy: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
empathy: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 17

empathy: valid Words With Friends Word