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:
"We remain committed to learning from this and to providing inclusive, compassionate care for all our patients," they said.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
The agency will use its technology to identify conditions from the compassionate allowances list so that it can expedite claims processing.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Some are dogs who have also been displaced by the war; others are compassionate humans, including a humanitarian worker with the power of canine communication.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
In a passage a more compassionate editor might have removed, Vance reveals the higher power he seems to actually worship.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026
Sarai uncovered her eyes and found Great Ellen restored to human form, the excoriating hawk gaze replaced by a piercing but compassionate human one.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Ernest, seeing how solitary and melancholy he appeared, compassionated the poor fellow, and never lost an opportunity of speaking kindly to him.
From Ernest Bracebridge School Days by William I. Thomas
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
She compassionated the fate of the victims of the previous day.
From Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty by Arthur Léon, baron Imbert de Saint-Amand
He won his confidence, genuinely compassionated his anxieties, and presently pledged himself to a most kindly office—the care and provision in future for the child soon to be fatherless; long before this time motherless.
From The Square of Sevens An Authoritative Method of Cartomancy with a Prefatory Note by Edward Prime-Stevenson
The first insinuated, that Ellis thought it fine and lady-like to affect being frightened; the second saw, and compassionated, in her failure, the natural effect of distressed modesty, mingled with wounded pride.
From The Wanderer (Volume 2 of 5) or, Female Difficulties by Fanny Burney
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 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
He lacked no attentions, though, himself, for, compassionating the state of the invalid’s health, both Dutch and Hester tried hard to make the meeting pleasant to him.
From Dutch the Diver A Man's Mistake by George Manville Fenn
"That'll do, doctor, that'll do," said he, with a most compassionating smile at the other's ignorance.
From The Daltons, Volume I (of II) Or,Three Roads In Life by Charles James Lever
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.
