Word Study
sympathetic
CIDE DICTIONARY
- Inclined to sympathy; sympathizing. [1913 Webster]"Far wiser he, whose sympathetic mind
Exults in all the good of all mankind." [1913 Webster] - Produced by, or expressive of, sympathy. [1913 Webster]"Ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears." [1913 Webster]
- Produced by sympathy; -- applied particularly to symptoms or affections. See Sympathy. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
sympathetic, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 of, showing, or expressing sympathy.
2 due to sympathy.
3 likeable or capable of evoking sympathy.
4 (of a person) friendly and cooperative.
5 (foll. by to) inclined to favour (a proposal etc.) (was most sympathetic to the idea).
6 (of a landscape etc.) that touches the feelings by association etc.
7 (of a pain etc.) caused by a pain or injury to someone else or in another part of the body.
8 (of a sound, resonance, or string) sounding by a vibration communicated from another vibrating object.
9 a designating the part of the nervous system consisting of nerves leaving the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spinal cord and connecting with the nerve cells in or near the viscera (see PARASYMPATHETIC). b (of a nerve or ganglion) belonging to this system.
--n.
1 a sympathetic nerve.
2 the sympathetic system.
--adj.
1 of, showing, or expressing sympathy.
2 due to sympathy.
3 likeable or capable of evoking sympathy.
4 (of a person) friendly and cooperative.
5 (foll. by to) inclined to favour (a proposal etc.) (was most sympathetic to the idea).
6 (of a landscape etc.) that touches the feelings by association etc.
7 (of a pain etc.) caused by a pain or injury to someone else or in another part of the body.
8 (of a sound, resonance, or string) sounding by a vibration communicated from another vibrating object.
9 a designating the part of the nervous system consisting of nerves leaving the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spinal cord and connecting with the nerve cells in or near the viscera (see PARASYMPATHETIC). b (of a nerve or ganglion) belonging to this system.
--n.
1 a sympathetic nerve.
2 the sympathetic system.
Idiom
sympathetic magic a type of magic that seeks to achieve an effect by performing an associated action or using an associated thing.
Derivative
sympathetically adv.
Etymology
SYMPATHY, after pathetic
THESAURUS
sympathetic
Christian, Christlike, Christly, accordant, adductive, affectionate, affinitive, agreeable, agreeing, akin, allergic, alluring, amenable, amicable, anaphylactic, appertaining, associative, assuring, at one, attracting, attractive, attrahent, attuned, benign, benignant, bleeding, brotherly, charitable, cheering, clement, comforting, commiserative, comparable, comparative, compassionate, compatible, comprehending, concordant, condolatory, condolent, condoling, congenial, congruous, connective, consistent, consolatory, consoling, correlative, corresponding, decent, delicate, dragging, drawing, emotionable, empathetic, empathic, en rapport, encouraging, favorable, favorably disposed, forbearant, fraternal, frictionless, friendly, gentle, good, goosy, gracious, harmonious, heartening, hospitable, human, humane, hyperesthetic, hyperpathic, hypersensitive, impressionable, in accord, in concert, in rapport, in tune, inharmony, irritable, itchy, kind, kindhearted, kindly, kindly-disposed, lenient, like-minded, linking, loving, magnetic, magnetized, melting, merciful, nervous, nice, of good comfort, of one mind, open, open-minded, overrefined, oversensible, oversensitive, overtender, passible, peaceful, pertaining, pertinent, pitying, pleasant, prickly, proportionable, proportional, proportionate, pulling, reassuring, receptive, referable, referring, refined, relating, relational, relative, relieving, responsive, ruthful, sensible, sensitive, sib, simpatico, skittish, soft, softhearted, supersensitive, supportive, susceptible, sympathizing, tactful, tender, tenderhearted, tetchy, thin-skinned, ticklish, together, touchy, tugging, understanding, united, warm, warmhearted, well-disposed, well-intentioned, well-meaningROGET THESAURUS
sympathetic
Friendship
N friendship, amity, friendliness, brotherhood, fraternity, sodality, confraternity, harmony, peace, firm friendship, staunch friendship, intimate friendship, familiar friendship, bosom friendship, cordial friendship, tried friendship, devoted friendship, lasting friendship, fast friendship, sincere friendship, warm friendship, ardent friendship, cordiality, fraternization, entente cordiale, good understanding, rapprochement, sympathy, fellow-feeling, response, welcomeness, affection, favoritism, good will, acquaintance, familiarity, intimacy, intercourse, fellowship, knowledge of, introduction, friendly, amicable, amical, well-affected, unhostile, neighborly, brotherly, fraternal, sympathetic, harmonious, hearty, cordial, warm- hearted, friends with, well with, at home with, hand in hand with, on good terms, on friendly terms, on amicable terms, on cordial terms, on familiar terms, on intimate terms, on good footing, on speaking terms, on visiting terms, in one's good graces, in one's good books, acquainted, familiar, intimate, thick, hand and glove, hail fellow well met, free and easy, welcome, amicably, with open arms, sans ceremonie, arm in arm, amicitia semper prodest, a mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one, friendship is love without either flowers or veil, trulgus amicitias utilitate probat.Love
N love, fondness, liking, inclination, regard, dilection, admiration, fancy, affection, sympathy, fellow-feeling, tenderness, heart, brotherly love, benevolence, attachment, yearning, eros, tender passion, amour, gyneolatry, gallantry, passion, flame, devotion, fervor, enthusiasm, transport of love, rapture, enchantment, infatuation, adoration, idolatry, Cupid, Venus, myrtle, true lover's knot, love token, love suit, love affair, love tale, love story, the, old story, plighted love, courtship, amourette, free love, maternal love, storge, parental love, young love, puppy love, attractiveness, popularity, favorite, lover, suitor, follower, admirer, adorer, wooer, amoret, beau, sweetheart, inamorato, swain, young man, flame, love, truelove, leman, Lothario, gallant, paramour, amoroso, cavaliere servente, captive, cicisbeo, caro sposo, inamorata, ladylove, idol, darling, duck, Dulcinea, angel, goddess, cara sposa, betrothed, affianced, fiancee, flirt, coquette, amorette, pair of turtledoves, abode of love, agapemone, loving, fond of, taken with, struck with, smitten, bitten, attached to, wedded to, enamored, charmed, in love, love-sick, over head and ears in love, head over heels in love, affectionate, tender, sweet upon, sympathetic, loving, amorous, amatory, fond, erotic, uxorious, ardent, passionate, rapturous, devoted, motherly, loved, beloved well beloved, dearly beloved, dear, precious, darling, pet, little, favorite, popular, congenial, after one's mind, after one's taste, after one's fancy, after one's own heart, to one's mind, to one's taste, to one's fancy, to one's own heart, in one's good graces, dear as the apple of one's eye, nearest to one's heart, lovable, adorable, lovely, sweet, attractive, seductive, winning, charming, engaging, interesting, enchanting, captivating, fascinating, bewitching, amiable, like an angel, amantes amentes, credula res amor est, militat omnis amasius, love conquers all, omnia vincit amor, si vis amari ama, the sweetest joy, the wildest woe.Benevolence
N benevolence, Christian charity, God's love, God's grace, good will, philanthropy, unselfishness, good nature, good feeling, good wishes, kindness, kindliness, loving-kindness, benignity, brotherly love, charity, humanity, fellow-feeling, sympathy, goodness of heart, warmth of heart, bonhomie, kind-heartedness, amiability, milk of human kindness, tenderness, love, friendship, toleration, consideration, generosity, mercy, charitableness, bounty, almsgiving, good works, beneficence, the luxury of doing good, acts of kindness, a good turn, good offices, kind offices good treatment, kind treatment, good Samaritan, sympathizer, bon enfant, altruist, benevolent, kind, kindly, well-meaning, amiable, obliging, accommodating, indulgent, gracious, complacent, good-humored, warm-hearted, kind-hearted, tender-hearted, large-hearted, broad- hearted, merciful, charitable, beneficent, humane, benignant, bounteous, bountiful, good-natured, well-natured, spleenless, sympathizing, sympathetic, complaisant, well-meant, well-intentioned, fatherly, motherly, brotherly, sisterly, paternal, maternal, fraternal, sororal, friendly, with a good intention, with the best intentions, Int, Godspeed!, much good may it do!, act a charity sometimes, a tender heart, a will inflexible, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, say only good things about the dead, don't speak ill of the dead, kind words are more than coronets, quando amigo pide no hay manana, the social smile, the sympathetic tear.Pity
N pity, compassion, commiseration, bowels, of compassion, sympathy, fellow-feeling, tenderness, yearning, forbearance, humanity, mercy, clemency, leniency, charity, ruth, long- suffering, melting mood, argumentum ad misericordiam, quarter, grace, locus paenitentiae, sympathizer, advocate, friend, partisan, patron, wellwisher, pitying, pitiful, compassionate, sympathetic, touched, merciful, clement, ruthful, humane, humanitarian, tender, tender hearted, tender as a chicken, soft, soft hearted, unhardened, lenient, exorable, forbearing, melting, weak, Int, for pity's sake!, mercy!, have mercy!, cry you mercy!, God help you!, poor thing!, poor dear!, poor fellow!, woe betide!, quis talia fando temperet a lachrymiss!, one's heart bleeding for, haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco, a fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind, onor di bocca assai giova e poco costa.For further exploring for "sympathetic" in Webster Dictionary Online