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sympathize

[sim-puh-thahyz]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used without object), -thized, -thiz·ing.

to be in sympathy or agreement of feeling; share in a feeling (often followed by with).

to feel a compassionate sympathy, as for suffering or trouble (often followed by with).

to express sympathy or condole (often followed by with).

to be in approving accord, as with a person or cause: to sympathize with a person's aims.

to agree, correspond, or accord.

Also, especially British, sym·pa·thise.

Origin:
1580–90; < Middle French sympathiser, equivalent to sympath(ie) sympathy + -iser -ize

Related forms

sym·pa·thiz·ing·ly, adverb

non·sym·pa·thiz·ing, adjective

non·sym·pa·thiz·ing·ly, adverb

pre·sym·pa·thize, verb (used without object), -thized, -thiz·ing.

un·sym·pa·thized, adjective

EXPAND

un·sym·pa·thiz·ing, adjective

un·sym·pa·thiz·ing·ly, adverb

COLLAPSE

Can be confused: empathize, sympathize.

Synonyms
4. understand, approve, favor, back, support.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To sympathize

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Sympathize is one of our favorite verbs.

So is subtilize. Does it mean:

chat, to converse

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

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Example Sentences

After all, a client who is also struggling is not likely to sympathize with someone else's financial woes.

It was a venting session with other bloggers who then proceeded to sympathize with her.

It's easy to sympathize with the desire to do so, but the reasoning for trying a child as an adult always seems kind of vague.

EXPAND

After all, a client who is also struggling is not likely to sympathize with someone else's financial woes.

It was a venting session with other bloggers who then proceeded to sympathize with her.

It's easy to sympathize with the desire to do so, but the reasoning for trying a child as an adult always seems kind of vague.

And one could sympathize with how difficult it might be to acknowledge that resentment.

Both comments are meant to sympathize with the original poster.

Gamers will sympathize with what the characters are trying to do.

Everybody must sympathize with the efforts of everybody else to raise the tone of politics, and especially of local politics.

Sympathize with the fact that they have enjoyed a diet of fast food for thought: soundbites and synopses.

In this environment, even the artists don't sympathize.

It's easy to sympathize with the challengers, who fear that the new product will reduce smokers' incentives to quit.

Those are perfectly credible reasons on which to base a decision, and committee members will understand and sympathize.

Most post-apocalyptic games do not seek to make you sympathize with the lost civilization.

She made it acceptable to weep and to think simultaneously, to sympathize but also to indict.

We understand and sympathize with the frustration of consumers.

At the same time, it's hard not to sympathize with the naysayers' irritation.

When she was the manager of a shoe store, she could sympathize with.

They have been through this before and they will sympathize with your position.

But the author then blamed it on the thieving hotel staff and their inability to sympathize with how hard the author's life.

We still sympathize with a hero who's a bit of a schemer, self-centered and-let's face it-an unrealistic fool.

Finally, our culture tends to sympathize far more with creditors, than with debtors.

And that exprience helped him to sympathize powerfully with the downtrodden.

People often sympathize with athletes for working so hard for no income.

By the time you encounter this man's musings, you'll be ready to sympathize entirely.

Among them there are of course people who sympathize strongly with groups today connected to terror activities''.

The reader must be able to view the wolf's horrific urges in an abstract way in order to sympathize with him.

It's hard to sympathize with a vengeful hero who doggedly asks for trouble.

Many recent and not-so-recent immigrants can sympathize with that sinking feeling.

The film is so good-natured that it encourages viewers to sympathize with its wrong-headed heroine.

What's enigmatic here is why anyone would devote himself to such bozos and imagine that any audience would sympathize with them.

Just as important, she knows how to make us sympathize.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

sympathize or sympathise (ˈsɪmpəˌθaɪz)

—vb (often foll by with)
1.	to feel or express compassion or sympathy (for); commiserate: he sympathized with my troubles
2.	to share or understand the sentiments or ideas (of); be in sympathy (with)

sympathise or sympathise

—vb

'sympathizer or sympathise

—n

'sympathiser or sympathise

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

sympathize

"to have fellow-feeling," c.1600; see sympathy.

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commiserate

enter

Matching Quote

"The visible heavens and earth sympathize with Jesus."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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