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SYMPATHY
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion
Example:
I knew I could count on his understanding
Synonyms:
sympathy; understanding
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("sympathy" is a kind of...):
disposition; inclination; tendency (an attitude of mind especially one that favors one alternative over others)
Derivation:
sympathetic (expressing or feeling or resulting from sympathy or compassion or friendly fellow feelings; disposed toward)
sympathise; sympathize (be understanding of)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish)
Synonyms:
fellow feeling; sympathy
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("sympathy" is a kind of...):
feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sympathy"):
concern (a feeling of sympathy for someone or something)
kind-heartedness; kindheartedness (sympathy arising from a kind heart)
compassion; compassionateness (a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering)
commiseration; pathos; pity; ruth (a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others)
compatibility (a feeling of sympathetic understanding)
empathy (understanding and entering into another's feelings)
Derivation:
sympathetic (expressing or feeling or resulting from sympathy or compassion or friendly fellow feelings; disposed toward)
sympathize (to feel or express sympathy or compassion)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A relation of affinity or harmony between people; whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other
Example:
the two of them were in close sympathy
Classified under:
Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas
Hypernyms ("sympathy" is a kind of...):
affinity; kinship (a close connection marked by community of interests or similarity in nature or character)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sympathy"):
mutual affection; mutual understanding (sympathy of each person for the other)
Derivation:
sympathetic (having similar disposition and tastes)
sympathise; sympathize (share the feelings of; understand the sentiments of)
Context examples:
The sympathy and good-will excited towards Captain Benwick was very great.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
If we feel for the wretched, enough to do all we can for them, the rest is empty sympathy, only distressing to ourselves.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
To be listened to and borne with, and hear the voice of kindness and sympathy in return, was everything that could be done for her.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Private detectives are a class with whom I have absolutely no sympathy, but none the less, having heard your name—
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The rest of Mrs. Palmer's sympathy was shewn in procuring all the particulars in her power of the approaching marriage, and communicating them to Elinor.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
“Good heavens!” cried the Colonel, laughing, “do you mean to say all our sympathy was wasted and your fit an imposture?”
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around him as he went, with fearful glances; but he found no sympathy, and Silver even joked him on his precautions.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Catherine felt that nothing could have been safer; but ashamed of an ignorance little expected, she dared no longer contest the point, nor refuse to have been as full of arch penetration and affectionate sympathy as Isabella chose to consider her.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Yet he found that in their presence he was conscious of a quick sympathy, a pleasant ease, a ready response to all that was most gentle and best in himself, which filled his soul with a vague and new-found joy.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Nevertheless, Weedon Scott's ear and sympathy were fine enough to catch the new note all but drowned in the fierceness—the note that was the faintest hint of a croon of content and that none but he could hear.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
