Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Sympathize |
SympathizeVerb1. Share the feelings of; understand the sentiments of. 2. Be understanding of; "You don't need to explain--I understand!". 3. To feel or express sympathy or compassion. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "sympathize" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1595. (references) |
Synonyms: SympathizeSynonyms: commiserate (v), empathise (v), empathize (v), sympathise (v), understand (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Benevolence | Verb: be benevolent; Adjective: have one's heart in the right place, bear good will; wish well, wish Godspeed; view with an eye of favor, regard with an eye of favor; take in good part; take an interest in, feel an interest in; be interested in, feel interested in; sympathize with, empathize with, feel for; fraternize; (be friendly). |
Concord | Side with, sympathize with, go with, chime in with, fall in with; come round; be pacified; assent; empathize with, enter into the ideas of, enter into the feelings of; reciprocate. |
Condolence | Verb: condole with, console, sympathize express pity, testify pity; afford consolation, supply consolation; lament; with; express sympathy for; feel grief in common with, feel sorrow in common with; share one's sorrow. |
Friendship | Verb: be friendly; Adjective:, be friends; be acquainted with; Adjective: know; have the ear of; keep company with;(sociality); hold communication with, have dealings with, sympathize with; have a leaning to; bear good will; (benevolent); love; make much of; befriend; (aid); introduce to. set one's horses together; have the latchstring out; hold out the right hand of friendship, extend the right hand of friendship, hold out the right hand of fellowship; become friendly; Adjective: make friends; with; break the lee, be introduced to; make acquaintance with, pick acquaintance with, scrape acquaintance with; get into favor, gain the friendship of. |
Love | Verb: love, like, affect, fancy, care for, take an interest in, be partial to, sympathize with; affection; be in love; with Adjective: have a love; n. for, entertain a love; n. for, harbor cherish a love; n. for; regard, revere; take to, bear love to, be wedded to; set one's affections on; make much of, feast one's eyes on; hold dear, prize; hug, cling to, cherish, pet. |
Pity | Verb: pity; have pity, show pity, take pity; Noun: commiserate, compassionate; condole; sympathize; feel for, be sorry for, yearn for; weep, melt, thaw, enter into the feelings of. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Sympathize |
| English words defined with "sympathize": Sympathized, Sympathizing. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | To ask you to sympathize (Second Chance; performing artist: 38 Special) To say they sympathize (Honesty; performing artist: Billy Joel) Could you sympathize with my needs (Bent; performing artist: Matchbox 20) No one will sympathize (My God; performing artist: The Jets) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | I can sympathize with that D.C. cop!. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Oscar Wilde | I can sympathize with everything, except suffering. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | We sympathize with those who are concerned that this name may trivialize this illness. (references) | |
Worker Rights | Mexico | Most FAT members sympathize with the PRD, but the FAT is independent and not formally tied to the PRD. In 1997 160 labor organizations representing workers in the private and public sectors, led by the telephone workers and social security workers unions, formed the National Union of Workers (UNT)--a labor central in competition with the officially recognized CT. In 1999 the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) announced that it would withdraw from the CT over its failure to give full support to the SME's opposition to the Government's plan to privatize partially the electric power sector. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
John Adams | 1797-1801 | While we think on this calamity and sympathize with the immediate sufferers, we have abundant reason to present to the Supreme Being our annual oblations of gratitude for a liberal participation in the ordinary blessings of His providence. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Sympathize" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 63.64% of the time. "Sympathize" is used about 88 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 63.64% | 56 | 45,296 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 35.23% | 31 | 62,296 |
| Noun (common) | 1.14% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 88 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "sympathize": sympathize with. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
sympathize | 4 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "sympathize"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | më vjen keq (be sorry, feel, it is a pity, regret, repent, rue, spare, take pity), më dhimbet. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | واسي (console, feel for him), تماثل (community, homogeneity, identification, identify, identity, like, likeness, oneness, resemble, sameness, self identification, similarity, symmetry, uniformity), تعاطف (empathy, sympathy), تجانس (analogy, assort, homogeneity, identity), أبدى مشاركة وجدانية. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | съчувствувам (commiserate, compassionate, condole), споделям (communicate, divide, partake, share in, unbosom), одобрявам (approbate, approve, assent, authorise, authorize, confirm, endorse, okay, pass, salute, sanctify, sanction, seal, subscribe to, support, uphold). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 同情 (compassion, relent, sympathy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | sympatizovat, mít soucit, mít pochopení (understand). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | meevoelen. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | partpreni ies sentojn. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | ilmaista myötätuntonsa. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | sympathiser (sympathizer), compatir. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | sympathisieren. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | συμπαθώ (commiserate, like, take to). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | לא"ו", ל"שתתף בצער (condole, feel for him), לראות בעין יפ" (think better of it), לרחוש א""", לסמפת. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | szimpatizál, együtt érez (to commiserate, to feel with). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | menyantuni (assist, help, sympathize with). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | simpatizzare (sympathise, take a liking to), vedere di buon occhio (sympathise), mostrare comprensione, essere d'accordo (agree, concur, consent, sympathise), condolersi (sympathise), compatire (be sorry for, commiserate, forgive, pity, sympathise), commiserare (commiserate, feel sorry for oneself, pity, sympathise), approvare (adopt, approve, assent, countenance, endorse, indorse, pass, put through, recognize, subscribe, sympathise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 同情 (compassion, feel for, pity, sympathy), 拝察 (infer, surmise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | どうじょう (compassion, court nobles, ditto, dojo, feel for, hall used for martial arts training, ibid., mandala, on the roof, pity, riding together, riding with, same as above, sympathy), はいさつ (infer, surmise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | co-ennaghtyn (empathy, sympathy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ympathizesay simpatizar (commiserate), ser compreensivo, condoer-se (pity), compreender (bottom, catch, catch on, compass, comprehend, comprise, conceive, consist, embrace, get, grasp, grip, have, imply, know, make out, perceive, plumb, read, realize, see, sense, take in, to understand, twig, understand). (various references) se arãta înduioşat, participa (assist, be art and part in, come in on, participate), compãtimi (commiserate, pity). (various references) сочувствовать (commiserate, condole, empathize, empathize with, sympathize with). (various references) saosećati (commiserate, feel for smb.). (various references) condolerse (condole), compadecerse, compadecer (commiserate, comply). (various references) sympatisera. (various references) เห็นใจ (join with, simpatico), มีใจเหมือนกัน (sympathetic). (various references) sempatizanı olmak, sempati duymak, yakınlık göstermek, yakınlık duymak, tarafını tutmak (be on smb.'s side, make common cause with, side with, stand by smb.'s side, stand for, stick up for, take smb.'s part), halden anlamak, etkileşmek, başsağlığı dilemek (commiserate, condole), aynı acıyı hissetmek, acımak (ache, be sorry for, bite, commiserate, deplore, feel for smb., feel pity for, feel sorry for, have compassion, have mercy, hurt, pity, pity smb., relent, rue, smart, sting). (various references) узгоджуватися (accord, cohere, comport, conform, consist, cotton, stand together), співчувати (commiserate, compassion, compassionate, condole, empathize, feel for, feel sorry, have pity, pity, warm, yearn), доброзичливо ставитися. (various references) cydymdeimlo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | misereor. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "sympathize": sympathized, sympathizer, sympathizers, sympathizes. (additional references) | |
| |
"Sympathize" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: eympathize, sympaphize, sympathise, sympathsize, synpathize, sypathize. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "sympathize" (pronounced si"mputhī'z) |
| 6 | -m p u th ī' z | empathize. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-h-i-m-p-s-t-y-z" | |
-2 letters: mateship, shipmate, zaptiehs. | |
-3 letters: atheism, empathy, haziest, impaste, maziest, mestiza, mistype, pastime, pyemias, zaptieh. | |
-4 letters: maizes, mashie, mateys, mayest, misate, miseat, mishap, pastie, petsai, phizes, pietas, pyemia, saithe, samite, smithy, spathe, steamy, stymie, theism, thymes, zymase. | |
-5 letters: amies, amity, aphis, apish, emits, empty, ephas, etyma, haems, haets, hames, haste, hasty, hates, hazes, heaps, heats. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-h-i-m-p-s-t-y-z" | |
+1 letter: sympathized, sympathizer, sympathizes. | |
+2 letters: sympathizers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Quotations: Speeches | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
