empathize
Americanverb (used without object)
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empathizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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empathized,
past participle, past
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empathizing
present participle
verb
Usage
What does empathize mean? To empathize with someone is to imagine or try to deeply understand what they are feeling or what it’s like to be in their situation. The ability or the practice of doing this is called empathy, which is often described as the ability to feel what others are feeling as if you are feeling it yourself. So, to empathize is to feel empathy for someone. People who do this are described as empathetic. Some people use the word empathize interchangeably or in overlapping ways with the word sympathize, which generally means to share someone else’s emotions, especially sadness. However, others distinguish the two terms by emphasizing the importance of empathizing with others (feeling their pain) as opposed to sympathizing with them (feeling sorry for them). Example: Having faced many of the same challenges, Nyala is able to empathize with other immigrants and what they go through.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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empathizesimple
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empathizessimple
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have empathizedperfect
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has empathizedperfect
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am empathizingprogressive
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are empathizingprogressive
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is empathizingprogressive
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have been empathizingperfect progressive
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has been empathizingperfect progressive
Past
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empathizedsimple
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had empathizedperfect
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was empathizingprogressive
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were empathizingprogressive
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had been empathizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of empathize
Explanation
To empathize is to understand or relate to someone else's emotional experience. If you get teary-eyed upon hearing about the death of your friend's pet hermit crab, you're probably empathizing with your friend — unless you're just bored to tears by her story. Empathize is often used interchangeably with sympathize, but you'll get no empathy (or sympathy) from usage experts if you confuse the two. When you sympathize with another person, you feel sad that she is suffering, but you don't necessarily relate to her experience. It's easiest to empathize when you've been through a similar experience; for example, if your pet guppy had recently passed away, your friend's hermit crab story would have broken your heart due to empathy.
Vocabulary lists containing empathize
"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 7
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"The Freedom Writers Diary" and "Strength, Courage, and Wisdom"
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"The Interlopers" and "An Interview with the King of Terror"
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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:
"This could indicate a close relationship between these human individuals and the animal, an idea that I think is quite easy to empathize with."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026
It’s a moral issue that many regular people can empathize with, in part because we are too always being watched now.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
If I empathize enough with the person that I’m playing, they walk differently, they talk differently, they cry differently, they sleep differently, they wake up differently, and that’s just so much more rewarding for me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
“I always empathize with that little kid in Season 1,” he says, speaking from London’s 180 House on a sunny day in July.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Not only will the students be able to empathize with Gerda’s feelings of persecution and loss, but I hope they’ll be able to understand how Anne Frank must have felt.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
No one understands, explicates and empathizes with mothers and daughters, love and pain, life and all it entails, quite like Ms. Hudes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” shouldn’t work because it empathizes with the man who will eventually become a genodicial villain.
From Salon ● Dec. 31, 2023
She empathizes with Denitra’s predicament, but how can she combat a system that made her an exception by the luck of the educational draw?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
Through the poignant story, in which Koh explores complicated familial relationships, she works through her experiences, empathizes with those who hurt her and lets go of the negative emotions that haunted her for years.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
“Germany, which was reunified 33 years ago, is a country that understands and empathizes with the issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula,” Yoon said.
From Washington Times ● May 21, 2023
I especially empathized in these moments with the men whose sentences put them in the category of “long-termers.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
They empathized with the educators and support staff seeking better wages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, said she empathized with the Cuban people but took issue with her Jamaican counterpart's remarks.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
The group continued: "Worst of all, the series presents a convicted murderer as an innocent man that should be empathized with."
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025
She’d empathized with him, and even said she sometimes heard things coming from the jungle too.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Studies show that empathizing with animals influences human behavior and can motivate people to take action to protect them.
From Salon ● May 12, 2025
“The Last Showgirl” isn’t wonderful because Anderson plays a version of herself, but rather because Anderson fundamentally understands her character, empathizing with Shelly’s desperation to hold onto modern life’s fleeting romance.
From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2025
Suddenly, I heard an empathizing laugh coming my way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2024
She praised him for empathizing with parents, teachers, coaches, administrators and alumni.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
In other words, if I smile and you see me and smile in response — even a microsmile that takes no more than several milliseconds — it’s not just you imitating or empathizing with me.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
