sympathize

American  

[sim-puh-thahyz] / ˈsɪm pəˌθaɪz /

especially British, sympathise

verb (used without object)

• sympathizes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sympathized,
  past participle,  past
• sympathizing
  present participle

1. 

   to be in sympathy or agreement of feeling; share in a feeling (often followed bywith ).

2. to feel a compassionate sympathy, as for suffering or trouble (often followed bywith ).

3. to express sympathy or condole (often followed bywith ).

4. to be in approving accord, as with a person or cause.

   to sympathize with a person's aims.

   Synonyms:

   support, back, favor, approve, understand

5. to agree, correspond, or accord.

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sympathize British  

/ ˈsɪmpəˌθaɪz /

verb

1. to feel or express compassion or sympathy (for); commiserate

   he sympathized with my troubles

2. to share or understand the sentiments or ideas (of); be in sympathy (with)

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Usage

What does sympathize mean? To sympathize with someone is to feel sympathy for them—to share their emotions, especially sadness. This is usually understood to mean that you feel bad for them because they are in a negative situation. The word sympathize can also mean to offer one’s sympathies or condolences, such as to someone who is in mourning. Sympathize also sometimes means to be supportive of or loyal to someone or something, such as a leader or cause, as in Many working class voters sympathize with the senator’s platform. The word sympathizer is especially used to refer to someone who sympathizes in this way. Someone who sympathizes can be described as sympathetic. Sympathetic can also be used to describe someone who causes you to sympathize with them. Some people use the word sympathize interchangeably or in overlapping ways with the word empathize, which means to have empathy—to imagine or try to deeply understand what someone is feeling or what it’s like to be in their situation. 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: I’ve experienced the same thing, so I can sympathize.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• sympathizer
  noun
• presympathize
  verb (used without object)
• nonsympathizing
  adjective
• unsympathized
  adjective
• unsympathizing
  adjective
• nonsympathizingly
  adverb
• sympathizingly
  adverb
• unsympathizingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• sympathizing
  present
• sympathized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sympathize
  simple
• sympathizes
  simple
• have sympathized
  perfect
• has sympathized
  perfect
• am sympathizing
  progressive
• are sympathizing
  progressive
• is sympathizing
  progressive
• have been sympathizing
  perfect progressive
• has been sympathizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• sympathized
  simple
• had sympathized
  perfect
• was sympathizing
  progressive
• were sympathizing
  progressive
• had been sympathizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sympathize
  simple
• will have sympathized
  perfect
• will be sympathizing
  progressive
• will have been sympathizing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of sympathize

First recorded in 1580–90; from Middle French sympathiser; from sympath(ie) sympathy + -iser -ize

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Explanation

When you sympathize, you care about how someone else feels during a time of trouble. If you sympathize with your brother, whose best friend is moving away, you understand why he's feeling sad. When you sympathize, you care, so you might sympathize with the victims of an earthquake in a foreign country or a child who's waiting for her turn on a merry-go-round. Sympathize comes from the Greek sympathes, have a fellow feeling for. It's sometimes confused with empathize, which means putting yourself in someone else's shoes, rather than simply caring about them.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sympathize sympathizes sympathized sympathizing

“I understand and sympathize with what the actors’ union was responding to,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Plenty of people here sympathize with the mystery vigilante.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

You can’t help but sympathize with her desire to skip the coming crisis in her industry.

From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026

Still, the movie seems to sympathize with many Americans’ misplaced faith in the remoteness of nuclear war.

From Slate ● Mar. 13, 2026

She was afraid I might contact Tyler, and that if I did, he might sympathize with me.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

The fashion designer and bridal boutique owner sympathizes with retailers grappling with the penny problem.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2025

While he sympathizes with the occasional need to chill at home, he also notes it's unsettling that it's a wildly popular discourse.

From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2025

The 34-year-old Mira Costa alumna who also starred for Stanford’s indoor team sympathizes with Ross’ quick comeback.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2024

But she also believes “it doesn’t have to be a competition” and sympathizes with the nearly 6,000 migrant children now enrolled in Chicago’s public schools.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2024

Her eyes tighten, enough for me to know that some part of her sympathizes with me, even if she’ll never admit it.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

Hundreds of women who sympathized with Clancy’s postpartum struggle have gathered outside the Plymouth, Mass., courthouse during the trial to raise awareness of the severe mood and anxiety disorders some new mothers face.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

In 2023, according to New York Times polling, 34 percent of Democrats sympathized with Israel and 31 percent with Palestinians.

From Slate ● Oct. 23, 2025

Abcarian sympathized with readers lashing out at the paper’s ownership.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2024

Many people sympathized with the workers and even called for Costco to start revoking memberships.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2024

The Cursed Toads—Spares whom she’d sympathized with, had tried to learn about, who she thought shared a common fate—had tricked and bested them.

From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega

Hitchcock beguiles us into sympathizing with the psychopathic Bruno.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Another supervisor came out and tried to defuse the situation, half lecturing, half sympathizing.

From Slate ● Oct. 10, 2025

"Something about Bowen being the one to voice this joke despite his interview with Chappell sympathizing with her concerns less than a month ago makes me sad," one person wrote in a post to X.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2024

Protesters gather outside the facility regularly, and in May, Casper Mayor Bruce Knell apologized for a Facebook post about the clinic some interpreted as sympathizing with the fire attack.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 21, 2023

Octavian managed to convey all that without saying it, simultaneously calming the senate and sympathizing with them.

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

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Related Words

• commiserate
• comprehend

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