sympathy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.

   If you want sympathy you’ll find it in the dictionary between shit and syphilis. Sympathy may pay well in the short term, but if you cash in on sympathy, it will take everything from you in the long run.

2. 2
   noun

   Inclination to think or feel alike; emotional or intellectual accord; common feeling.

   Oh vvhat a ſimpathie of vvoe is this, / As farre from helpe, as Lymbo is from bliſſe.

3. 3
   noun

   An affinity, association or mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.

   He observed, also, the frequent sympathy of volcanic and terremotive action in remote districts of the earth's surface, thus showing how deeply seated must be the cause of these convulsions.

4. 4
   noun

   an inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion

5. 5
   noun

   sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish)

6. 6
   noun

   a relation of affinity or harmony between people

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”).