sympathize
Americanverb (used without object)
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to be in sympathy or agreement of feeling; share in a feeling (often followed bywith ).
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to feel a compassionate sympathy, as for suffering or trouble (often followed bywith ).
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to express sympathy or condole (often followed bywith ).
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to be in approving accord, as with a person or cause.
to sympathize with a person's aims.
- Synonyms:
- support, back, favor, approve, understand
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to agree, correspond, or accord.
verb
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to feel or express compassion or sympathy (for); commiserate
he sympathized with my troubles
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to share or understand the sentiments or ideas (of); be in sympathy (with)
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
- nonsympathizing adjective
- nonsympathizingly adverb
- presympathize verb (used without object)
- sympathizer noun
- sympathizingly adverb
- unsympathized adjective
- unsympathizing adjective
- unsympathizingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of sympathize
First recorded in 1580–90; from Middle French sympathiser; from sympath(ie) sympathy + -iser -ize
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.
Francis bravely doesn’t soften Sally’s prickly nature, but she doesn’t give us much reason to sympathize with her character either.
From Los Angeles Times
I sympathized, of course—I how much losing friends sucks—but felt tiny a hint of satisfaction.
From Literature
She sympathizes with customers, noting that it feels “yucky to lose the human.”
“Portraying me as someone who serves a cause other than Denmark, and who would sympathize with threats to our kingdom, is unhealthy,” Messerschmidt wrote on Facebook this weekend.
From Los Angeles Times
While sympathizing with the need for more affordable housing, Maupin said in a video posted on Facebook that Align’s proposal is “a bit of a monstrosity, from the pictures I’ve seen.”
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.
