1
Core meaning
The ability to understand and share another person's feelings or perspective.
Example
The interviewer responded with empathy rather than judgment.
empathy
/ˈempəθi/ · EM-puh-theenoun
The ability to understand and share another person's feelings or perspective.
Use empathy to express this relationship precisely: the ability to understand and share another person's feelings or perspective.
What empathy Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Common noun frame
Use this noun in a complete noun phrase, adding the complement that identifies what it refers to when needed.
Example
Fiction can cultivate empathy for unfamiliar lives.
3
Analytical distinction
Choose it when this exact concept matters; a related term may describe its cause, evidence, or opposite instead.
Example
Empathy does not require agreement with every decision.
Use empathy Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
The interviewer responded with empathy rather than judgment.
Fiction can cultivate empathy for unfamiliar lives.
Empathy does not require agreement with every decision.
Precision Matters
Empathy overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
empathy
vs.Means the ability to understand and share another person's feelings or perspective.
contempt
Means a feeling or expression that someone or something is worthless, inferior, or deserving of scorn.
empathy
vs.Means the ability to understand and share another person's feelings or perspective.
candor
Means the quality of being open, honest, and straightforward in speech or expression.
empathy
vs.Means the ability to understand and share another person's feelings or perspective.
prestige
Means high respect, admiration, status, or influence gained through achievement, quality, reputation, or association.
empathy
vs.Means the ability to understand and share another person's feelings or perspective.
solicitous
Means showing attentive concern, care, or anxiety for another person's welfare or needs.
Test empathy in Context
They understand and share another group's emotional perspective.
1
By imagining the fear experienced by the evacuees, readers may develop greater ___.