compassion
noun
Simple meaning
Deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhmpashuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəmˈpæʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states.
A deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states.
Used this way, compassion is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Warm and admiring
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Compassion is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use compassion
- “Showing compassion for others is a wonderful human quality.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.