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
- compassionately adverb
- compassionateness noun
- uncompassionate adjective
- uncompassionately adverb
- uncompassionateness noun
Etymology
Origin of compassionate
First recorded in 1580–90; compassion + -ate 1
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.
“I think that we have gone a little bit too far in allowing leniency and trying to be compassionate,” he said, “and sometimes maybe forgetting what it was that victims went through.”
From Los Angeles Times
I am generally a compassionate person, so I sometimes wonder whether I should help him financially.
From MarketWatch
Then her luck seemed to turn: She found unexpected love with a compassionate former U.S.
From Los Angeles Times
He described Tumbler Ridge as a town of miners, teachers and construction workers who represent "the very best of Canada: resilient, compassionate and strong."
From Barron's
It aims to tell a complicated story in a compassionate, nuanced way.
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.
