empathy
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
empathy /ˈɛmpəθi/
▶noun the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
– derivatives
empathetic adjective,
empathetically adverb,
empathic /ɛmˈpaθɪk/ adjective,
empathically adverb.
empathetic adjective,
empathetically adverb,
empathic /ɛmˈpaθɪk/ adjective,
empathically adverb.
– origin early 20th cent.: from Gk empatheia (from em- ‘in’ + pathos ‘feeling’) translating Ger. Einfühlung.
usage: People often confuse the words empathy and sympathy. Empathy means ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another’ (as in both authors have the skill to make you feel empathy with their heroines), whereas sympathy means ‘feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune’ (as in they had great sympathy for the flood victims).
'empathy' also found in these Oxford entries:
