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Sympathy and empathy are two closely related but distinct emotions. Sympathy involves feeling sorry or pity for someone, whereas empathy involves understanding and sharing someone’s feelings. Sympathy is more of an external expression of emotion, while empathy is an internal emotional response.
In brief, sympathy suggests an understanding of another’s feelings or other emotional experience whereas compassion tends to take sympathy (and empathy) a step further.
Empathy, sympathy, and compassion can each be applied to different situations and people in your life, depending on the needs and severity of what they might be going through.
Compassion is the awareness of someone’s feelings, empathy is feeling those feelings, and sympathy is relating to but not feeling them. These terms seem almost interchangeable, but in reality, they can and should be used independently – or collectively, depending on the situation.
Empathy, sympathy, and compassion are three words that many use interchangeably. It’s a legitimate mistake, because these words can be confusing. While these words are near cousins, they are not synonymous with one another. Empathy means that you feel what a person is feeling. Sympathy means you can understand what the person is feeling.
Sympathy, empathy, and compassion all relate to your emotional reaction when you see suffering. But there are a few key differences that distinguish each of these responses. We'll review these responses in more detail and compare them to each other.
Sympathy is feelings of pity and sorrow for someone's misfortune, while compassion is a deeper understanding and a desire to alleviate another’s suffering.
Compassion and sympathy are both emotions that involve feeling for someone else's suffering or distress, but they differ in their level of engagement and understanding. Sympathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person, often accompanied by a sense of pity or sorrow.
Sympathy defines our feelings of compassion and regret for another person’s misfortune, whereas empathy allows us to put ourselves in the shoes of those who are suffering and share their sadness directly.
Sympathy is a reaction to the plight of others. Empathy means sharing another person's emotions. Compassion is more engaged than simple empathy.