compassionate

Compassionate means having compassion—a feeling of sympathy or pity for others, especially one that makes you want to help them.

Being compassionate typically means you care and you want to help. The word can describe a person, their actions, or a situation that involves or is based on compassion.

The word compassion is sometimes used interchangeably with sympathy, and compassionate is sometimes used to mean sympathetic, which most most commonly means sharing emotions with someone else, especially sadness. These words are all used in the context of feeling sorry for people who are in negative situations. But being compassionate is often understood as having a feeling that motivates you to help them.

The opposite of being compassionate is being uncompassionate—indifferent or cold-hearted.

The word compassionate can also be used in a more specific way to mean granted in circumstances that call for compassion. The word is used this way in the phrase compassionate leave, which refers to permission to be absent, such as from military duty, due to a death or illness in the family or other personal reasons.

Example: We should be compassionate toward others because that’s how we want to be treated.

The first records of the word compassionate come from the late 1500s. It comes from the Late Latin compassiō, meaning “fellow feeling,” from compatī, “to suffer with.” The suffix -ate is used to form adjectives. Compassionate and sympathetic are sometimes used to mean the same thing, and their roots mean the same things, too. The path in sympathetic and the passion in compassionate are both rooted in words that mean “to suffer,” and the com- and sym- at the beginning of each word both mean “with.”

Being compassionate may involve sharing in someone’s suffering, but the word most commonly describes a person who has a desire to end that suffering by helping in some way. It’s often associated with other words related to caring about people, especially kind.

What are some other forms related to compassionate?

• compassionately (adverb)
• uncompassionate (adjective)
• uncompassionately (adverb)
• compassion (noun)

What are some synonyms for compassionate?

• tender
• merciful
• kind
• benevolent
• sympathetic

What are some words that share a root or word element with compassionate? 

• passion

What are some words that often get used in discussing compassionate?

• care
• loving
• people
• kindness
• empathy

Compassionate is often used in the discussion of why people should treat others with kindness—as well as in the discussion of how some people don’t.

I’m heartbroken hearing of Ruth Ginsburg’s passing. We all knew what an icon she was as a jurist. Ruth was such a kind and compassionate human being. She was, and is, beloved. We will miss her so deeply.

— Lawrence Gostin (@LawrenceGostin) September 19, 2020

Whoah! I just got an email explaining my TED talks have now, in total, been viewed over 70 million times. People are clearly hungry for a more compassionate and loving approach to addiction, depression & anxiety. Here’s the addiction talk https://t.co/9FpbwWfT7E

— Johann Hari (@johannhari101) September 17, 2020

"Part of empathy is seeing someone else's perspective, owning your part in mistakes, and being compassionate and vulnerable to others and yourself." @lisa_westman

The Intersection of Empathy and Instruction: https://t.co/vvSJ3hCZ3I pic.twitter.com/kI1yqgfOMx

— EL Magazine (@ELmagazine) September 21, 2020

Which of the following words is NOT a synonym of compassionate?

A. happy
B. kind
C. sympathetic
D. merciful