1. (n.) Feeling corresponding to that which another feels; the quality of being affected by the affection of another, with feelings correspondent in kind, if not in degree; fellow-feeling.
2. (n.) 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. (n.) Kindness of feeling toward one who suffers; pity; commiseration; compassion.
4. (n.) 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.
5. (n.) 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.
6. (n.) A tendency of inanimate things to unite, or to act on each other; as, the sympathy between the loadstone and iron.
7. (n.) Similarity of function, use office, or the like.
Thesaurus Entries
abetment, accord, accordance, addition, adduction, adjunct, advocacy, aegis, affairs, affectionateness, affections, affective faculty, affectivity, affiliation, affinity, agape, agreement, aid and comfort, allergy, alliance, allurement, amity, an in, anaphylaxis, approximation, assemblage, association, assurance, attractance, attraction, attractiveness, attractivity, auspices, backing, balm, benevolence, benignancy, benignity, bent, bias, blending, bond, bonds of harmony, brotherhood, brotherly love, camaraderie, capillarity, capillary attraction, care, caring, caritas, cement of friendship, centripetal force, championship, charity, chiming, chord, clemency, closeness, combination, comfort, commiseration, communion, community, community of interests, compassion, compatibility, concern, concord, concordance, condolement, condolence, congeniality, connectedness, connection, considerateness, consolation, consonant, contiguity, contrariety, correspondence, countenance, dealings, deduction, delicacy, disjunction, drag, draw, easement, echo, emotional life, emotions, empathy, encouragement, esprit, esprit de corps, exquisiteness, fancy, fascination, favor, favorable regard, feeling, feeling of identity, feeling of kinship, feeling tone, feelings, fellow feeling, fellowship, filiation, fineness, finer feelings, forbearance, forgiveness, fosterage, fraternal feeling, frictionlessness, friendly relations, good graces, good terms, good understanding, good vibes, good vibrations, goodness, goodness of heart, goodwill, grace, graciousness, gravitation, gravity, guidance, happy family, harmonic, harmony, heart, heart of gold, homology, humaneness, humanity, hyperesthesia, hyperpathia, hypersensitivity, identification, identity, inclination, intercourse, interest, intimacy, involvement, irritability, junction, kindheartedness, kindliness, kindly disposition, kindness, kinship, leaning, leniency, liaison, like-mindedness, link, linkage, linking, love, loving kindness, magnetism, mercy, mitigation, musical, mutual affinity, mutual attraction, mutual regard, mutuality, nearness, nervousness, niceness, oneness, oversensibility, oversensitiveness, overtenderness, pardon, partiality, passibility, passions, pathos, patronage, peace, penchant, perceptiveness, perceptivity, photophobia, pity, predilection, preference, prickliness, proclivity, propensity, propinquity, proximity, pull, pulling power, quarter, rapport, rapprochement, reassurance, reciprocity, regard, relatedness, relating, relation, relations, relationship, relief, reprieve, respect, response, responsiveness, rue, ruth, seconding, self-pity, sensibilities, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sensitization, sentiments, sharing, sharing of grief, shred of comfort, similarity, softheartedness, solace, solacement, solicitousness, solidarity, soothing words, soreness, soul of kindness, sponsorship, supersensitivity, support, susceptibilities, sympathetic chord, sympathetic response, sympathies, symphonic, symphonious, symphony, tact, tactfulness, team spirit, tender susceptibilities, tenderheartedness, tenderness, tetchiness
