empathize — to understand and share the feelings of another person
Part of speech: VERB
Definition: to understand and share the feelings of another person
Pronunciation (IPA): /ˈempəθaɪz/
Example Sentences
- I empathize with my cat - we both hate Mondays and love napping.
- As a teacher, she could empathize with students' anxiety about exams.
- I can empathize with anyone who's tried to assemble IKEA furniture at 2 AM.
empathize
VERB[/ˈempəθaɪz/]
to understand and share the feelings of another person
She sits beside her friend and truly empathizes with the loss.
EM (inside) + PATHY (feeling) — by stepping into his friend's emotional storm, he empathized with his pain.
Beyond silent telepathy and polite sympathy, she hugged her friend and empathized with her pain.
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🎤Pronunciation
🌳Etymology
Origin
The word emerged in the early 20th century when German psychologists coined 'Einfühlung' (feeling into), which was translated into English drawing from Greek 'empatheia'. The term was developed to describe the psychological capacity to understand and share another's emotions.
Breakdown
em- (in, into) + pathos (feeling, emotion, suffering) + -ize (verb-forming suffix). The construction parallels Greek empatheia, where em- functions as a variant of en- (in) combined with pathos (emotion).
🎵Rhyme
🔗Collocations
📝Examples
“I empathize with my cat - we both hate Mondays and love napping.”
“As a teacher, she could empathize with students' anxiety about exams.”
“I can empathize with anyone who's tried to assemble IKEA furniture at 2 AM.”
“Having lost her job recently, she could empathize with the unemployed workers.”
📚Related Words
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