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
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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:
“When I talk about compassionate accountability, it’s not just a campaign slogan for me,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Your response to his three children’s accusations is a compassionate one.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
The government said it had "committed to ensuring every bereaved parent and family has access to high-quality, consistent and compassionate care".
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Is it compassionate to leave people detached from reality out on the cold street, or to police when something terrible happens?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
“You’re a compassionate girl. You lead with your heart, like your father.”
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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
The people compassionated us and relieved us as much as possible.
From The Friars in the Philippines by Ambrose Coleman
He found it indescribably refreshing to meet at last with a being who could understand him, and still more refreshing to feel himself compassionated by the said being.
From Success and How He Won It by E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers) Werner
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
You know how weakly pitiful I always am towards wicked people; for it seems to me that they are so much more to be compassionated than the good.
From The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52 by Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe
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
I slept that night in a prison, and ate of prison fare,—ravenously and eagerly too; so much so that the turnkey, compassionating me, fetched me some of his own supper to satisfy my cravings.
From Sir Jasper Carew His Life and Experience by Charles James Lever
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
"A severe service,—at least, one of rigid discipline," said D'Esmonde, with a compassionating expression of voice.
From The Daltons, Volume II (of II) Or,Three Roads In Life by Charles James Lever
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