compassion

noun

com·pas·sion kəm-ˈpa-shən How to pronounce compassion (audio)

: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it

compassionless

kəm-ˈpa-shən-ləs How to pronounce compassion (audio)

adjective

Did you know?

What is the difference between empathy and compassion?

Some of our users are interested in the difference between empathy and compassion. Compassion is the broader word: it refers to both an understanding of another’s pain and the desire to somehow mitigate that pain:

Our rationalizations for lying (or withholding the truth)—"to protect her," "he could never handle it”—come more out of cowardice than compassion.
— Eric Utne, Utne Reader, November/December 1992

Sometimes compassion is used to refer broadly to sympathetic understanding:

Nevertheless, when Robert Paxton's "Vichy France" appeared in a French translation in 1973, his stark and devastating description ... was rather badly received in France, where many critics accused this scrupulous and thoughtful young historian either of misinterpreting the Vichy leaders' motives or of lacking compassion.
— Stanley Hoffmann, The New York Times Book Review, 1 Nov. 1981

Empathy refers to the ability to relate to another person’s pain vicariously, as if one has experienced that pain themselves:

For instance, people who are highly egoistic and presumably lacking in empathy keep their own welfare paramount in making moral decisions like how or whether to help the poor.
— Daniel Goleman, The New York Times, 28 Mar. 1989

"The man thought all this talk was fine, but he was more concerned with just getting water. And, if I was going to be successful on this mission, I had to remember what his priorities were. The quality you need most in United Nations peacekeeping is empathy."
— Geordie Elms, quoted in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Autumn 1992

In some cases, compassion refers to both a feeling and the action that stems from that feeling:

Compassion, tenderness, patience, responsibility, kindness, and honesty are actions that elicit similar responses from others.
— Jane Smiley, Harper’s, June 2000

while empathy tends to be used just for a feeling:

She is also autistic, a disability that she argues allows her a special empathy with nonhuman creatures.
— Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books, 29 April 2009

Example Sentences

Take away all the qualities that make for a genuinely good father—wisdom, compassion, even temper, selflessness—and what you have left is Homer Simpson with his pure, mindless, dogged devotion to his family.

Paul A. Cantor, Gilligan Unbound, 2001 … he read every "doctor book" he could reach … , learning fine secrets and curing us with steams and fruit compotes and dexterous rubs and, above all, with bedside compassion.

Gwendolyn Brooks, Booklist, 15 Oct. 1993 The novel addresses at every point in its structural edifice, and lingers over in every fissure, the slave's body and personality: the way it speaks, what passion legal or illicit it is prey to, what pain it can endure, what limits, if any, there are to its suffering, what possibilities there are for forgiveness, compassion, love.

Toni Morrison, Playing In The Dark, 1992 I can't write songs about what's wrong with a country that seems to lack compassion for pain and suffering …

Bonnie Raitt, quoted in Entertainment Weekly, 23 Aug. 1991 Like the best of the new detectives, V. I. and Kinsey, she is a woman of wit and gravity, compassion and toughness, a heroine worth spending time with.

Susan Isaacs, New York Times Book Review, 3 Nov. 1991 He felt compassion for the lost child. She shows compassion to the sick. She had the compassion to offer help when it was needed most. See More

Recent Examples on the Web Yeoh portrays Guanyin, Wei-Chen's unassuming auntie who helps her nephew navigate the challenges of high school — all while maintaining a secret identity as the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion.

Jessica Wang, EW.com, 11 Sep. 2022 It's been made with a lot of compassion, and by people who have a lot of love for people in their lives who have mental health problems, or have mental health problems themselves.

Austa Somvichian-clausen, Glamour, 2 Sep. 2022 Ted, convinced his espionage was saving millions, acted out of compassion.

Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Sep. 2022 Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty.

Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, 31 Aug. 2022 Knowing a bond of trust had been broken, general manager Brian Sabean and the players simply wrote him off — for good — without a hint of compassion.

Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Aug. 2022 As Holden Karnofsky once put it, most people who sit down to reason through these things from a place of compassion don’t expect to arrive at such conclusions—or want to.

Gideon Lewis-kraus, The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2022 Del Toro hopes this movie will bring about a sense of compassion.

Giovana Gelhoren, PEOPLE.com, 27 July 2022 Their lack of compassion is pretty straightforward.

Annie Lane, cleveland, 26 July 2022 See More

compassion

noun

as in sympathy

sorrow or the capacity to feel sorrow for another's suffering or misfortune treats the homeless with great compassion

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

sympathy
empathy
kindness
feeling
commiseration
regret
generosity
mercy
pity
sensitivity
humaneness
understanding
humanity
kindliness
altruism
condolence
ruth
kindheartedness
magnanimity
benevolence
affinity
humanitarianism
goodwill
rapport
warmheartedness
benignity
philanthropy
charity
softheartedness
largesse
largess
largeheartedness
bigheartedness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

indifference
callousness
heartlessness
cruelty
hatred
hard-heartedness
insensitivity
inhumanity
unconcern
coldheartedness
hostility
animosity
harshness
antipathy
dislike

as in kindness

the capacity for feeling for another's unhappiness or misfortune has no compassion for people who squander their money

Synonyms & Similar Words

kindness
sympathy
heart
generosity
mercy
humanity
pity
sensitivity
feelings
kindliness
ruth
kindheartedness
empathy
commiseration
feeling
good-heartedness
responsiveness
warmheartedness
charity
affection
love
sensibility
largeheartedness
bigheartedness
regard
softheartedness
altruism
humaneness
humanism
humanitarianism
benevolence
rapport
affinity
goodwill
philanthropy
benignity
benignancy

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

indifference
inhumanity
mercilessness
callousness
cruelty
pitilessness
coldness
hatred
hard-heartedness
disinterest
unconcern
coldheartedness
hostility
animosity
harshness
inhumanness
antipathy
dislike

Synonym Chooser

Some common synonyms of compassion are commiseration, condolence, pity, and sympathy. While all these words mean "the act or capacity for sharing the painful feelings of another," compassion implies pity coupled with an urgent desire to aid or to spare.

treats the homeless with great compassion

While in some cases nearly identical to compassion, commiseration suggests pity expressed outwardly in exclamations, tears, or words of comfort.

murmurs of commiseration filled the loser's headquarters

While the synonyms condolence and compassion are close in meaning, condolence applies chiefly to formal expression of grief to one who has suffered loss.

expressed their condolences to the widow

In some situations, the words pity and compassion are roughly equivalent. However, pity implies tender or sometimes slightly contemptuous sorrow for one in misery or distress.

felt pity for the captives

The words sympathy and compassion can be used in similar contexts, but sympathy often suggests a tender concern but can also imply a power to enter into another's emotional experience of any sort.

went to my best friend for sympathy

in sympathy with her desire to locate her natural parents

单词	compassion
释义	compassion noun com·pas·sion kəm-ˈpa-shən : sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it compassionless kəm-ˈpa-shən-ləs adjective Did you know? What is the difference between empathy and compassion? Some of our users are interested in the difference between empathy and compassion. Compassion is the broader word: it refers to both an understanding of another’s pain and the desire to somehow mitigate that pain: Our rationalizations for lying (or withholding the truth)—"to protect her," "he could never handle it”—come more out of cowardice than compassion. — Eric Utne, Utne Reader, November/December 1992 Sometimes compassion is used to refer broadly to sympathetic understanding: Nevertheless, when Robert Paxton's "Vichy France" appeared in a French translation in 1973, his stark and devastating description ... was rather badly received in France, where many critics accused this scrupulous and thoughtful young historian either of misinterpreting the Vichy leaders' motives or of lacking compassion. — Stanley Hoffmann, The New York Times Book Review, 1 Nov. 1981 Empathy refers to the ability to relate to another person’s pain vicariously, as if one has experienced that pain themselves: For instance, people who are highly egoistic and presumably lacking in empathy keep their own welfare paramount in making moral decisions like how or whether to help the poor. — Daniel Goleman, The New York Times, 28 Mar. 1989 "The man thought all this talk was fine, but he was more concerned with just getting water. And, if I was going to be successful on this mission, I had to remember what his priorities were. The quality you need most in United Nations peacekeeping is empathy." — Geordie Elms, quoted in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Autumn 1992 In some cases, compassion refers to both a feeling and the action that stems from that feeling: Compassion, tenderness, patience, responsibility, kindness, and honesty are actions that elicit similar responses from others. — Jane Smiley, Harper’s, June 2000 while empathy tends to be used just for a feeling: She is also autistic, a disability that she argues allows her a special empathy with nonhuman creatures. — Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books, 29 April 2009 Synonyms commiseration feeling sympathy See all Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Take away all the qualities that make for a genuinely good father—wisdom, compassion, even temper, selflessness—and what you have left is Homer Simpson with his pure, mindless, dogged devotion to his family. Paul A. Cantor, Gilligan Unbound, 2001 … he read every "doctor book" he could reach … , learning fine secrets and curing us with steams and fruit compotes and dexterous rubs and, above all, with bedside compassion. Gwendolyn Brooks, Booklist, 15 Oct. 1993 The novel addresses at every point in its structural edifice, and lingers over in every fissure, the slave's body and personality: the way it speaks, what passion legal or illicit it is prey to, what pain it can endure, what limits, if any, there are to its suffering, what possibilities there are for forgiveness, compassion, love. Toni Morrison, Playing In The Dark, 1992 I can't write songs about what's wrong with a country that seems to lack compassion for pain and suffering … Bonnie Raitt, quoted in Entertainment Weekly, 23 Aug. 1991 Like the best of the new detectives, V. I. and Kinsey, she is a woman of wit and gravity, compassion and toughness, a heroine worth spending time with. Susan Isaacs, New York Times Book Review, 3 Nov. 1991 He felt compassion for the lost child. She shows compassion to the sick. She had the compassion to offer help when it was needed most. See More Recent Examples on the Web Yeoh portrays Guanyin, Wei-Chen's unassuming auntie who helps her nephew navigate the challenges of high school — all while maintaining a secret identity as the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion. Jessica Wang, EW.com, 11 Sep. 2022 It's been made with a lot of compassion, and by people who have a lot of love for people in their lives who have mental health problems, or have mental health problems themselves. Austa Somvichian-clausen, Glamour, 2 Sep. 2022 Ted, convinced his espionage was saving millions, acted out of compassion. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Sep. 2022 Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, 31 Aug. 2022 Knowing a bond of trust had been broken, general manager Brian Sabean and the players simply wrote him off — for good — without a hint of compassion. Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Aug. 2022 As Holden Karnofsky once put it, most people who sit down to reason through these things from a place of compassion don’t expect to arrive at such conclusions—or want to. Gideon Lewis-kraus, The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2022 Del Toro hopes this movie will bring about a sense of compassion. Giovana Gelhoren, PEOPLE.com, 27 July 2022 Their lack of compassion is pretty straightforward. Annie Lane, cleveland, 26 July 2022 See More Word History Etymology Middle English, from Anglo-French or Late Latin; Anglo-French, from Late Latin compassion-, compassio, from compati to sympathize, from Latin com- + pati to bear, suffer — more at patient First Known Use 14th century, in the meaning defined above Phrases Containing compassion compassion fatigue compassion fatigue Kids Definition compassion noun com·pas·sion kəm-ˈpa-shən : pity for and a desire to help someone compassion noun 1 as in sympathy sorrow or the capacity to feel sorrow for another's suffering or misfortune treats the homeless with great compassion Synonyms & Similar Words Relevance sympathy empathy kindness feeling commiseration regret generosity mercy pity sensitivity humaneness understanding humanity kindliness altruism condolence ruth kindheartedness magnanimity benevolence affinity humanitarianism goodwill rapport warmheartedness benignity philanthropy charity softheartedness largesse largess largeheartedness bigheartedness Antonyms & Near Antonyms indifference callousness heartlessness cruelty hatred hard-heartedness insensitivity inhumanity unconcern coldheartedness hostility animosity harshness antipathy dislike See More 2 as in kindness the capacity for feeling for another's unhappiness or misfortune has no compassion for people who squander their money Synonyms & Similar Words kindness sympathy heart generosity mercy humanity pity sensitivity feelings kindliness ruth kindheartedness empathy commiseration feeling good-heartedness responsiveness warmheartedness charity affection love sensibility largeheartedness bigheartedness regard softheartedness altruism humaneness humanism humanitarianism benevolence rapport affinity goodwill philanthropy benignity benignancy Antonyms & Near Antonyms indifference inhumanity mercilessness callousness cruelty pitilessness coldness hatred hard-heartedness disinterest unconcern coldheartedness hostility animosity harshness inhumanness antipathy dislike See More Synonym Chooser Some common synonyms of compassion are commiseration, condolence, pity, and sympathy. While all these words mean "the act or capacity for sharing the painful feelings of another," compassion implies pity coupled with an urgent desire to aid or to spare. treats the homeless with great compassion While in some cases nearly identical to compassion, commiseration suggests pity expressed outwardly in exclamations, tears, or words of comfort. murmurs of commiseration filled the loser's headquarters While the synonyms condolence and compassion are close in meaning, condolence applies chiefly to formal expression of grief to one who has suffered loss. expressed their condolences to the widow In some situations, the words pity and compassion are roughly equivalent. However, pity implies tender or sometimes slightly contemptuous sorrow for one in misery or distress. felt pity for the captives The words sympathy and compassion can be used in similar contexts, but sympathy often suggests a tender concern but can also imply a power to enter into another's emotional experience of any sort. went to my best friend for sympathy in sympathy with her desire to locate her natural parents
随便看	disinhume disintegrable disintegrate disintegrated disintegrates disintegrating disintegration disintegrationist disintegrations disintegrative disintegrator disintegrators disintegrous disinter disinteress disinterest disinterested disinterestedly disinterestedness disinterestednesses disinteresting disinterests disintermediate disintermediation disintermediations

compassion

noun

Did you know?

Synonyms

Example Sentences

Word History

Phrases Containing compassion

Kids Definition

noun

noun

Synonym Chooser