sympathetic

comparative more sympathetic · superlative most sympathetic · alternative obsolete sympathetick · alternative sympathetical

1. Of, related to, feeling, showing, or characterized by sympathy.

   John looked very upset. I gave him a sympathetic look.

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   Vaublanc, in San Domingo so sympathetic to the sorrows of labour in France, had to fly from Paris in August, 1792, to escape the wrath of the French workers.

   1963, C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd revised edition, page 14

   Antonyms: unsympathetic

   1. Showing approval of or favor towards an idea or action.

      Synonyms: approving · Antonyms: unsympathetic

2. Attracting the liking of others. (of a person)
   1. businessDesigned in a sensitive or appropriate way.
3. relationalRelating to, producing, or denoting an effect which arises through an affinity, interdependence, or mutual association.

   sympathetic ink

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   Sympathetic magic is based on imitation or correspondence.

   1. relationalA supernatural connection or power resulting from two items having the same form or some other correspondence. (of magic)

      One of his great enthusiasms was for a "sympathetic" weapon salve, an idea originating in Paracelsus.

      1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 225

   2. relationalsoundRelating to musical tones produced by sympathetic vibration or to strings so tuned as to sound by sympathetic vibration.
4. relationalanatomyRelating to or denoting the part of the autonomic nervous system consisting of nerves arising from ganglia near the middle part of the spinal cord, supplying the internal organs, blood vessels, and glands, and balancing the action of the parasympathetic nerves.

   Sympathetic innervation involves epinephrine.

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   It was suggested that adrenaline might act at the junction of sympathetic nerves and the effector organs, and that adrenaline might be released at sympathetic nerve endings.

   1967, Leslie L. Iversen, The Uptake and Storage of Noradrenaline in Sympathetic Nerves, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 23

   Antonyms: parasympathetic

plural sympathetics · alternative obsolete sympathetick · alternative sympathetical

1. anatomyA sympathetic nerve.