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fellow feeling

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noun
  1. sympathetic feeling; sympathy: to have fellow feeling for the unfortunate.
  2. a sense of joint interest: to act out of fellow feeling to support one's country.
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Origin of fellow feeling

First recorded in 1605–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fellow-feeling

Historical Examples

  • They regard women as friends, as persons with whom they have a fellow-feeling.

    The Sexual Question

    August Forel

  • “I have a fellow-feeling for that little girl,” smiled Mr. Westwood.

  • "I should be sorry to lay down so narrow a limit to fellow-feeling," said Upton.

    The Fortunes Of Glencore

    Charles James Lever

  • Besides that, I have been a fool in my time, and a fellow-feeling makes us kind.

    Despair's Last Journey

    David Christie Murray

  • Her companions' eyes were opened, for the instant a fellow-feeling smote them.

British Dictionary definitions for fellow-feeling

fellow feeling

noun
  1. mutual sympathy or friendship
  2. an opinion held in common
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fellow-feeling

n.

1610s, an attempt to translate Latin compassio and Greek sympatheia. It yielded a back-formed verb, fellow-feel in 17c.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper