They saw, but other sight instead -- a crowd Of ugly
serpents! Horror on them fell, And horrid sympathy.
--Milton.
2. 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.
3. Kindness of feeling toward one who suffers; pity;
commiseration; compassion.
I value myself upon sympathy, I hate and despise
myself for envy. --Kames.
4. (Physiol.)
(a) 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.
(b) 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.
5. A tendency of inanimate things to unite, or to act on each
other; as, the sympathy between the loadstone and iron.
[R.]
6. Similarity of function, use office, or the like.
The adverb has most sympathy with the verb. --Earle.
Syn: Pity; fellow-feeling; compassion; commiseration;
tenderness; condolence; agreement.
Usage: {Sympathy}, {Commiseration}. Sympathy is literally a
fellow-feeling with others in their varied conditions
of joy or of grief. This term, however, is now more
commonly applied to a fellow-feeling with others under
affliction, and then coincides very nearly with
commiseration. In this case it is commonly followed by
for; as, to feel sympathy for a friend when we see him
distressed. The verb sympathize is followed by with;
as, to sympathize with a friend in his distresses or
enjoyments. ``Every man would be a distinct species to
himself, were there no sympathy among individuals.''
--South. See {Pity}.
Fault, Acknowledged and deplored, in Adam
wrought Commiseration. --Milton.