- (n.) The reciprocal influence exercised by organs or parts on one another, as shown in the effects of a diseased condition of one part on another part or organ, as in the vomiting produced by a tumor of the brain.
- (n.) The influence of a certain psychological state in one person in producing a like state in another.
- (n.) Feeling corresponding to that which another feels; the quality of being affected by the affection of another, with feelings correspondent in kind, if not in degree; fellow-feeling.
- (n.) Kindness of feeling toward one who suffers; pity; commiseration; compassion.
- (n.) An agreement of affections or inclinations or a conformity of natural temperament, which causes persons to be pleased or in accord, with one another; as, there is perfect sympathy between them.
- (n.) That relation which exists between different persons by which one of them produces in the others a state or condition like that of himself. This is shown in the tendency to yawn which a person often feels on seeing another yawn or the strong inclination to become hysteric experienced by many women on seeing another person suffering with hysteria.
- (n.) A tendency of inanimate things to unite or to act on each other; as, the sympathy between the loadstone and iron.
- (n.) Similarity of function, use office or the like.
- (n.) The reciprocal influence exercised by the various organs or parts of the body on one another, as manifested in the transmission of a disease by unknown means from one organ to another quite remote or in the influence exerted by a diseased condition of one part on another part or organ, as in the vomiting produced by a tumor of the brain.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). sympathy. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/sympathy/definitions/2069653 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "sympathy" http://smartdefine.org/sympathy/definitions/2069653 (accessed September 24, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, sympathy, Smart Define, viewed 24 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/sympathy/definitions/2069653>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "sympathy" 28 May 2011. Web. 24 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/sympathy/definitions/2069653> |