sympathynoun
uk/ˈsɪm.pə.θi/us/ˈsɪm.pə.θi/sympathy noun (UNDERSTANDING)
B2 [ U ] (an expression of) understanding and care for someone else's suffering:
The president has sent a message of sympathy to the relatives of the dead soldiers.
I don't have much sympathy for her - I think she's brought her troubles on herself.
Compare
empathy
offer/send your sympathies formal
to express your sadness to someone because a relation or friend of theirs has recently died:
I went along to the funeral in order to offer my sympathies.
More examples
- She said that she was deeply moved by all the letters of sympathy she had received.
- I have absolutely no sympathy for people who get into debt by overspending.
- George was a wonderful man - you have my greatest sympathy.
- It's your own fault Colin, you'll get no sympathy from me!
- I feel a lot of sympathy for him, it can't be easy bringing up three children on your own.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Sympathy & compassion
- a good listener idiom
- a shoulder to cry on idiom
- aw
- bad/hard/tough luck! idiom
- better luck next time idiom
- cloud
- feel for sb
- fellow feeling
- go out to sb
- hard luck! idiom
- hard/tough cheese! idiom
- pity
- poor
- relate
- relate to sb
- sad
- sensitive
- shoulder
- solace
- understanding
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sympathy noun (SUPPORT)
C2 [ U ] support and agreement:
I must confess I have some sympathy with his views.
sympathies [ plural ]
support:
Of those people questioned, 93 percent said their sympathies were with the teachers.
He is known to have right-wing sympathies.
come out in sympathy with sb UK
to stop working in order to show your support for other workers who are on strike:
The railway workers came out in sympathy with the miners.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Accepting & agreeing
- accept
- accredited
- assent
- be ruled by sb idiom
- buy-in
- conclude
- countenance
- court
- gauntlet
- leap
- listen to reason idiom
- middle ground
- mustn't grumble idiom
- pounce
- reach
- settlement
- signatory
- swallow
- take sb up on sth
- unquestioning
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Backing, supporting & defending
Industrial action