English Explanatory Dictionary

empathy

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Identification with or understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person.
  2. The capacity to understand another person's point of view or the result of such understanding.
  3. A paranormal ability to psychically read another person's emotions.
  4. MDMA.

Pronunciation

/ˈɛmpəθi/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-empathy.wav

Word forms

empathy empathies

Etymology

A twentieth-century borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empátheia, literally “passion”) (formed from ἐν (en, “in, at”) + πάθος (páthos, “feeling”)), equivalent to em- + -pathy, coined by Edward Bradford Titchener in 1909 to translate German Einfühlung. The modern word in Greek εμπάθεια (empátheia) has an opposite meaning denoting strong negative feelings and prejudice against someone.

Synonyms

fellow feeling ecstasy

Related words

sympathy technopathy telepathy

Derived words

cold empathy double empathy problem empath empathic empathist empathogen empathy belly empathy game empathyless empathy map hot empathy hyperempathetic hyperempathy pseudo-empathy suicidal empathy telempathy
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