Sympathetic — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Sympathetic (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. having or showing the capacity for sharing the feelings of another

   "a sympathetic smile"

   "needed a sympathetic listener who would understand her marital woes"

   similar: commiserative, compassionate, empathetic, empathic, humane, understanding
   related: feeling, perceptive, sensitive, considerate, gentle, softhearted, tender, tenderhearted, warm, warmhearted, benevolent, benignant, bighearted, charitable, kind, kindhearted, kindly, largehearted, magnanimous, clement, lenient, merciful, tolerant, pitying, ruthful, congenial, cordial, friendly, genial, good-natured, good-tempered, gracious, well-disposed, affectionate, loving
   opposite: callous, cold-blooded, coldhearted, hard, hard-hearted, heartless, inhuman, inhumane, insensate, obdurate, unfeeling, unsympathetic
   near: inconsiderate, insensitive, thoughtless, unthinking, aloof, cool, indifferent, uncaring, uninterested, unaffectionate, unfriendly, unloving, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, bigoted, blinkered, narrow-minded, small-minded, brutal, grim, hard-bitten, hard-boiled, harsh, oppressive, rough, severe, stern, tough, ungentle, unrelenting, abusive, acrimonious, disagreeable, hateful, hostile, ill-natured, ill-tempered, malevolent, malicious, mean, rancorous, spiteful, surly, unkind, virulent

2. having or marked by sympathy and consideration for others

   "a sympathetic store manager who let us use the telephone"

   "sympathetic letters from supporters after the disappointing verdict"

   similar: beneficent, benevolent, benignant, compassionate, good-hearted, humane, kind, kindhearted, kindly, softhearted, tender, tenderhearted, warmhearted
   related: attentive, considerate, solicitous, thoughtful, affable, amicable, benign, companionable, comradely, cordial, friendly, genial, gentle, good, good-natured, good-tempered, gracious, mild, neighborly, nice, pleasant, sweet, warm, clement, forbearing, forgiving, lenient, merciful, soft, patient, pitying, tolerant, understanding, altruistic, brotherly, charitable, freehanded, generous, greathearted, humanitarian, liberal, magnanimous, munificent, noble, openhearted, philanthropic, selfless, unselfish, unsparing, anticruelty, cruelty-free
   opposite: atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, bestial, brutal, brute, brutish, callous, cold-blooded, cruel, fiendish, hard-hearted, heartless, inhuman, inhumane, insensate, sadistic, savage, truculent, uncompassionate, unfeeling, unkind, unkindly, unsympathetic, vicious, wanton
   near: ironhearted, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, stonyhearted, inconsiderate, insensitive, thoughtless, uncaring, unthinking, grim, hard-boiled, harsh, heavy-handed, severe, stern, tough, unsentimental, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, spiteful, virulent, antihumanitarian, uncharitable