Empathetic
adjective /ˌempəˈθetɪk/ — Genuinely understanding how someone else feels.
Definition
Showing the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person.
Beyond the definition
Empathetic goes beyond sympathy. Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is actually stepping into their experience — feeling what they feel. An empathetic person makes others feel truly heard.
Origin & history
From Greek empatheia — passion, from em- 'in' + pathos 'feeling'. Literally: feeling from inside another's experience.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
An empathetic leader listens before giving advice.
She gave an empathetic response that made him feel understood, not judged.
Being empathetic doesn't mean agreeing — it means making people feel heard.
How to use it
This entry uses an adjective. Follow the examples for the nouns it describes and its position in the sentence.
Choose “Empathetic” when the meaning fits your context: Showing the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person.
Synonyms
understanding, compassionate, sensitive, perceptive, caring
Antonyms
cold, indifferent, unsympathetic
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Emotional Echo in Relationship
One adult appears vivid and self-directed while the partner watches them, looking for cues and reflecting the other person's posture and outfit.
The interaction captures a form of empathy where one person deeply mirrors the other. While here it indicates emotional self-effacement, it shows the capacity to understand and share the state of another, highlighting the nuance that empathy involves feeling what another feels, for good or ill.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration
Questions about this word
What does "Empathetic" mean?
Empathetic is adjective meaning: Genuinely understanding how someone else feels.. Showing the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person.
Where does the word "Empathetic" come from?
From Greek empatheia — passion, from em- 'in' + pathos 'feeling'. Literally: feeling from inside another's experience.