empathetic

Also em·path·ic

[em-puh-thet-ik]

adjective

1. relating to or characterized by empathy, the psychological identification with the emotions, thoughts, or attitudes of others.

   One of the great strengths of the school is our sensitive, empathetic counseling staff.

Other Word Forms

• empathetically adverb
• empathically adverb
• nonempathic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of empathetic¹

First recorded in 1930–35; empath(y) + -etic

Example Sentences

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern, Oscar-winning star of “Marriage Story,” said in her statement.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Todd Snider, a singer and songwriter beloved in the Americana music scene for his funny yet empathetic portraits of people struggling to survive an uncaring world, died Friday.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In one recent study, observers found artificial-intelligence-generated responses to be more empathetic, validating and compassionate than those of humans.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"When you see her at industry events, she is her TV persona. She's the best friend you'd love to have. She's fun, empathetic, understanding, sharp, and those qualities exude from the screen."

Read more on BBC

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern wrote.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• compassionate 
• sensitive 
• sympathetic 

When To Use

What does empathetic mean?

Empathetic means having or tending to have empathy—the ability or practice of imagining or trying to deeply understand what someone else is feeling or what it’s like to be in their situation.Empathy is often described as the ability to feel what others are feeling as if you are feeling it yourself. To feel empathy for someone is to empathize. People who do this are described as empathetic.Some people use the word empathetic interchangeably or in overlapping ways with the word sympathetic, which generally means sharing or tending to share emotions with someone else, especially sadness. However, others distinguish the two terms by emphasizing the importance of being empathetic toward others (feeling their pain) as opposed to being sympathetic toward them (feeling sorry for them).A less common variant of empathetic is empathic.Example: Having faced many of the same challenges, Nyala is empathetic to the struggles of immigrants.