Meanings
plural commiserations
- countableuncountableThe act of commiserating; sorrow for the hardships or afflictions of another; pity; compassion.
The death of anti-feminist activist Phyllis Schlafly on Monday brought commiserations from the GOP ticket. Donald Trump tweeted that she was “truly great.” Mike Pence called her “the First Lady of the Conservative Movement.” Pence wasn’t exaggerating.
2016 September 6, Timothy Stanley, “How Phyllis Schlafly gave us Sarah Palin”, in CNN2 more examples
But her assertion soon proved its truth. That very evening I met both the Duc de Joyeuse and Mademoiselle Guerchy;—a slight embarrassment on his part, a little air of triumphant impertinence on hers, and an affected but insolent commiseration from Mademoiselle de Guise, told the whole.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 197The departure was not unduly prolonged.[…]Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity.
1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLCSynonyms: fellow feeling, mercy, bowels, compassion, empathy, fellow feeling, mercy, pity
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe act of commiserating; sorrow for the hardships or afflictions of another; pity; compassion.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others
nounan expression of sympathy with another's grief
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Frenchcommisération
- Englishcommiseration
From Middle French commisération.
More words from Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian съчувствие
- съчувствие (săčuvstvie)act of commiserating
Catalan commiseració
- commiseracióact of commiserating
Chinese Mandarin 怜悯, 同情
- 怜悯 (liánmǐn)act of commiserating
- 同情 (tóngqíng)act of commiserating
Dutch medelijden, medeleven
- medelijdenact of commiserating
- medelevenact of commiserating
French commisération
- commisérationact of commiserating
German Mitleid, Mitgefühl
- Mitleidact of commiserating
- Mitgefühlact of commiserating
Norwegian Bokmål medynk, medlitenhet
- medynkact of commiserating
- medlitenhetact of commiserating
Polish litość, współczucie
- litośćact of commiserating
- współczucieact of commiserating
- żalact of commiserating
Portuguese comiseração
- comiseraçãoact of commiserating
Romanian compătimire, compasiune
- compătimireact of commiserating
- compasiuneact of commiserating
- comizerațieact of commiserating
Spanish conmiseración
- conmiseraciónact of commiserating
Swedish medlidande
- medlidandeact of commiserating
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with commiseration
Cite this entry
commiseration. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/commiseration
“commiseration.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/commiseration. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “commiseration,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/commiseration.
Source: commiseration on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.