Definition of SYMPATHY

sympathy

Plural: sympathies

Noun

  • Feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune.
  • an inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion
  • sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish)
  • a relation of affinity or harmony between people; whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other
    • "the two of them were in close sympathy"
  • A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.
  • A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.
  • The formal expression of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune.
  • A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.
  • The ability to share the feelings of another.
  • Inclination to think or feel alike; emotional or intellectual accord; common feeling.
  • Inclination to think or feel alike; emotional or intellectual accord; common feeling.
  • Support in the form of shared feelings or opinions.
  • Inclination to think or feel alike; emotional or intellectual accord; common feeling.
  • Feeling of loyalty; tendency towards, agreement with or approval of an opinion or aim; a favorable attitude.
  • An affinity, association or mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.
  • An affinity, association or mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.
  • Mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it.
  • An affinity, association or mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.
  • Artistic harmony, as of shape or colour in a painting.

Examples

  • Many people in Hollywood were blacklisted merely because they were suspected of Communist sympathies.
  • There’s little SYMPATHY in Words With Friends for a player with a seven-vowel rack.

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French sympathie, from Late Latin sympathīa (“feeling in common”), from Ancient Greek σῠμπᾰ́θειᾰ (sŭmpắtheiă, “fellow feeling”), from σῠμπᾰθής (sŭmpăthḗs, “affected by like feelings; exerting mutual influence, interacting”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, “-y”, nominal suffix). Equivalent to sym- (“acting or considered together”) + -pathy (“feeling”). Displaced native Old English efnþrōwung (equivalent to even-throeing; literally, “co-suffering”).

Synonyms

fellow feeling, understanding, bowels, commiseration, compassion, empathy, loving-kindness, mercy, pity, remorse, rue, ruth, sympathy, tenderheartedness

Scrabble Score: 21

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

Words With Friends Score: 20

sympathy: valid Words With Friends Word