Empathy
The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person; the capacity to place oneself in someone else's emotional experience.
nounEmpathy
The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person; the capacity to place oneself in someone else's emotional experience.
nounImagine This
Imagine a friend describing a job loss. As they speak, you picture their worry, feel their disappointment, and respond with words that reflect their emotions, not just the facts.
Sounds Like
EM-puh-thee
Looks Like
empath + y
Remember This
Empathy involves feeling with someone, whereas sympathy is feeling for someone from a distance. Empathy can be cognitive (understanding) or affective (sharing feelings).
Other Forms
Connect With
compassion, sympathy, understanding, perspective-taking, emotional intelligence
Note
Avoid confusing empathy with pity or over-identification. Use empathy to acknowledge and reflect others' feelings without becoming overwhelmed by their distress.
Study Deeper
- Her empathy allowed her to comfort the friend who had just lost a loved one.
- A counselor must show empathy to help clients feel heard and understood.
From Greek en (in) + pathos (feeling); via French empathie and Latin empathia, entered English as empathy.
EMPATHY: Em + pathy reminds you to enter (em) the other's path of feeling; imagine stepping into someone else's emotional journey to understand them.
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Similar Words
Related words and words with the same part of speech.
Abasement
nounThe act or instance of humiliating or degrading someone; the state of being lowered in dignity or status.
Absurdity
nounThe quality or state of being wildly unreasonable, illogical, or ridiculous; something that is completely contrary to reason or common sense.
Accent
nounA distinctive way of pronouncing words; the act of emphasizing a syllable or word (as a verb, to accent means to emphasize).
Accolade
nounAn honor; a public expression of praise or an award.
Acrimony
nounBitterness of speech or manner; ill feeling
Acronym
nounA word formed from the initial letters of a phrase, pronounced as a single word and used as a shorthand for the full name (for example, NASA or radar).