compassionate
Americanadjective
-
having or showing compassion.
a compassionate person; a compassionate letter.
- Synonyms:
- tender, sympathetic, pitying
-
granted in an emergency.
compassionate military leave granted to attend a funeral.
-
Obsolete. pitiable.
verb (used with object)
adjective
-
showing or having compassion
-
leave granted, esp to a serviceman, on the grounds of bereavement, family illness, etc
Usage
What does compassionate mean? 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.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of compassionate
First recorded in 1580–90; compassion + -ate 1
Explanation
If you are compassionate, you feel other people's pain and struggles as though they were your own. Compassionate people are often moved to work to end the suffering of others, perhaps by feeding the hungry or educating the poor. Compassionate comes from the Old French noun compassion, which means "sympathy, pity." The adjective, pronounced "cuhm-PASH-uh-nuht," means "sympathetic," like a compassionate friend who shares in your joys and sadnesses, wanting the best for you. As a verb, compassionate, here pronounced "cuhm-PASH-uh-nate," means "pity," as in your ability to compassionate with stray dogs and cats.
Vocabulary lists containing compassionate
Be Nice!
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Positive Adjectives to Describe People
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"The Diary of Anne Frank," Vocabulary from the drama
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As well as reminding its existing employees of the principles of compassionate care, the trust has embedded a question about it into its recruitment processes.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
“You have to be compassionate about someone being injured,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
“We have always been transparent, compassionate, and committed to giving these dogs a second chance. This situation is not only devastating—it threatens the future of our entire rescue,” the plea reads.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Returning from compassionate leave, he said his father would have wanted him "back out there" to bring forward "the changes that he always pushed me to make".
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
I told myself that my interest was compassionate and that my presence amounted to a demonstration of support.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
At the siege of Preston, in which those who fell dead upon the field were less to be compassionated than the survivors, Lord Kenmure was taken prisoner.
From Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745 Volume II. by Mrs. Thomson
Fortune hath compassionated my case, and felt pity for the length of my torment, And granted me what I desired, and removed that which I dreaded.
From Folk-Lore and Legends: Oriental by Charles John Tibbitts
She merely compassionated the men in that they were driven to brutishness.
From Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett
The few who enter it will be compassionated much as a minister is who undertakes a dangerous foreign mission.
From History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
In the market-place I compassionated an unfortunate thief minus his right hand and left leg.
From Romantic Spain A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. II) by John Augustus O'Shea
Mr. Hearne is hardly sympathetic toward those who wrong women, but I hear “Consent” as compassionating all of us who have been bequeathed unequal, curdled social relations.
From New York Times ● Dec. 21, 2017
“A body can’t play a symphony next to a man, without compassionating with his woes.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
He had suppressed an outburst of feeling, and now stood calm, compassionating, extending his hands,—his staff fallen upon the floor.
From Cudjo's Cave by J. T. (John Townsend) Trowbridge
He died on the scaffold, but with the greatest serenity, forgiving his persecutors, and compassionating their delusions.
From A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon For the Use of Schools and Colleges by John Lord
The Ambassador, compassionating his destitute condition, and finding pleasure in his company, found a post for him in his household as a sort of chamberlain.
From The Comedies of Carlo Goldoni edited with an introduction by Helen Zimmern by Carlo Goldoni
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
