Sympathetically

adv

adv ·6 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    Owing to or showing evidence of sympathy, or affinity; happening through or demonstrating correspondences, whether occult or physiological.

    "I feel sure that here before me were assembled those, in whose unhealing hearts the sight of those bleak tablets sympathetically caused the old wounds to bleed afresh."

  2. 2
    In a manner which demonstrates a sharing in the feelings of others; compassionately.

    "Still she didn't stir, so he patted her shoulder and added sympathetically, 'Come now, don't take it so much to heart.'"

Adverb
  1. 1
    with respect to the sympathetic nervous system wordnet
  2. 2
    in a sympathetic manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
amicablyempatheticallyempathetically

Example

More examples

"The chaplain listened sympathetically to his parishioner."

Etymology

From sympathetical + -ly.

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