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Compassion

 - 3 dictionary results

com⋅pas⋅sion

  [kuhm-pash-uhn]
Use Compassion in a Sentence
–noun
1. a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.
–verb (used with object)
2. Archaic. to compassionate.
Origin:
1300–50; ME (< AF) < LL compassiōn- (s. of compassiō). See com-, passion

Related forms:
com⋅pas⋅sion⋅less, adjective

Synonyms:
1. commiseration, mercy, tenderness, heart, clemency. See sympathy.

Antonyms:
1. mercilessness, indifference.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Compassion
com·pas·sion   (kəm-pāsh'ən)   
n.  Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. See Synonyms at pity.

[Middle English compassioun, from Late Latin compassiō, compassiōn-, from compassus, past participle of compatī, to sympathize : Latin com-, com- + Latin patī, to suffer; see pē(i)- in Indo-European roots.]
com·pas'sion·less adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

compassion 
1340, from O.Fr. compassion, from L.L. compassionem (nom. compassio) "sympathy," from compassus, pp. of compati "to feel pity," from com- "together" + pati "to suffer" (see passion). Loan-translation of Gk. sympatheia. Phrase compassion conservatism in American political language first recorded by 1992, popularized, if not coined, by Marvin Olasky, University of Texas at Austin instructor.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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