sympathy
noun
Simple meaning
A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
simpuhtheeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɪmpəθi
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
A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.
in the plural
The formal expression of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune.
The ability to share the feelings of another.
Feeling of loyalty; tendency towards, agreement with or approval of an opinion or aim; a favorable attitude.
in the plural
Support in the form of shared feelings or opinions.
Inclination to think or feel alike; emotional or intellectual accord; common feeling.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- General and technical use
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.
Used this way, sympathy is a reasonably familiar word carrying real weight of difficulty or hurt. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Strongly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Strongly negative / painful
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Sympathy 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 sympathy
- “The two of them were in close sympathy.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A card expressing sympathy.
A strike in support of other workers who are on strike.
Commonly Confused With
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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.