Compassionate

adj, verb

adj, verb ·4 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To feel compassion (for someone or with regard to something); to regard (someone or something) with compassion. archaic, transitive

    "[…] seeing them die so wofully in the flames, he compassionated them."

  2. 2
    share the suffering of wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Having, feeling or showing compassion (to or toward someone).

    "The Compassionate, the All-Compassionate"

  2. 2
    Given to someone as an exception because of a family emergency or a death in their family.

    "compassionate leave; a compassionate visa"

  3. 3
    Inviting or asking for pity. obsolete

    "It boots thee not to be compassionate: After our sentence plaining comes too late."

Adjective
  1. 1
    showing or having compassion wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
feel forpityruthfultenderheartedacceptingache

Example

More examples

"You men, you're all selfish and heartless, and us women, who are always loving and compassionate, we're forced to obey you!"

Etymology

A pseudo-Latin form of French compassionné, past participle of compassionner (“feel sorry for”).

Related phrases

compassionate conservatismcompassionate conservativismcompassionate leavecompassionate use

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.