relate to sth
— phrasal verb with relate uk/rɪˈleɪt/us/rɪˈleɪt/verb [ T ]
to understand a situation or someone's feelings because you have experienced a similar situation or similar feelings:
The culture that he describes is so different from mine that I sometimes find it hard to relate to.
More examples
- Why doesn't she want to go on holiday? I can't relate to that.
- I can relate to your problems. I had difficulty finding somewhere to live when I first moved here.
- Things have changed so much since she started working here, that she has difficulty relating to the experiences of younger colleagues.
- Audiences are encouraged to empathize with the characters and try to relate to the situations in which they are portrayed.
- I can't relate to your experiences at school, they sound so different to my own.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Empathy and sensitivity
- attuned
- commune
- communion
- emotional intelligence
- empathetic
- empathy
- identify
- identify with sb
- project
- put
- put yourself in sb's place/position/shoes idiom
- rapport
- relate
- self-discovery
- sensitive
- sensitivity
- sympathetic
- sympathize
- understand
- understanding
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