empathy

empathy
['ɛmpəθi]
noun the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
Derivatives
empathetic adjective
empathetically adverb
empathic ɛm'paθɪk adjective
empathically adverb
Origin
early 20th cent.: from Gk empatheia (from em- 'in' + pathos 'feeling') translating Ger. Einfühlung.
Usage
People often confuse the words empathy and sympathy. Empathy means ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another’ (as in both authors have the skill to make you feel empathy with their heroines), whereas sympathy means ‘feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune’ (as in they had great sympathy for the flood victims).

English new terms dictionary. 2014.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Empathy — is the capacity to recognize or understand another s state of mind or emotion. It is often characterized as the ability to put oneself into another s shoes , or to in some way experience the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself.It… …   Wikipedia

  • Empathy — Empathy …   Википедия

  • Empathy — Kontaktliste in Empat …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Empathy — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Empathy …   Wikipedia Español

  • Empathy — Empathy …   Wikipédia en Français

  • empathy — 1. This is originally a term used in psychology and aesthetics meaning ‘the power of identifying oneself mentally with (and so fully comprehending) a person or object of contemplation’. In general use it tends to replace sympathy or feeling for… …   Modern English usage

  • empathy — index rapport, understanding (tolerance) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • empathy — (n.) 1903, from Ger. Einfühlung (from ein in + Fühlung feeling ), coined 1858 by German philosopher Rudolf Lotze (1817 1881) as a translation of Gk. empatheia passion, state of emotion, from en in (see EN (Cf. en ) (2)) + pathos feeling (see… …   Etymology dictionary

  • empathy — *sympathy, pity, compassion, commiseration, ruth, condolence Analogous words: imagination, fancy, fantasy: appreciation, understanding, comprehension (see corresponding verbs at UNDERSTAND) …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • empathy — [n] understanding affinity, appreciation, being on same wavelength*, being there for someone*, communion, community of interests, compassion, comprehension, concord, cottoning to*, good vibrations*, hitting it off*, insight, picking up on*, pity …   New thesaurus

  • empathy — ► NOUN ▪ the ability to empathize. DERIVATIVES empathetic adjective empathic adjective. ORIGIN Greek empatheia, from pathos feeling …   English terms dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”