Meanings
comparative more sympathetically · superlative most sympathetically
- Owing to or showing evidence of sympathy, or affinity; happening through or demonstrating correspondences, whether occult or physiological.
I feel sure that here before me were assembled those, in whose unhealing hearts the sight of those bleak tablets sympathetically caused the old wounds to bleed afresh.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC - In a manner which demonstrates a sharing in the feelings of others; compassionately.
Still she didn't stir, so he patted her shoulder and added sympathetically, 'Come now, don't take it so much to heart.'
1956 [1880], Johanna Spyri, Heidi, translation of original by Eileen Hall, page 90
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Ancient Greek συμπαθῶς
- συμπαθῶς (sumpathôs)demonstrating a sharing in the feelings of others
Finnish myötätuntoisesti
- myötätuntoisestidemonstrating a sharing in the feelings of others
French sympathiquement
- sympathiquementdemonstrating a sharing in the feelings of others
Cite this entry
sympathetically. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sympathetically
“sympathetically.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sympathetically. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sympathetically,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sympathetically.
Source: sympathetically on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.