English

Noun

empathy ‎(countable and uncountable, plural empathies)

1. Identification with or understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person.

   She had a lot of empathy for her neighbor; she knew what it was like to lose a parent too.

2. (parapsychology, science fiction) A paranormal ability to psychically read another person's emotions.

Usage notes

Used similarly to sympathy, interchangeably in looser usage. In stricter usage, empathy is stronger and more intimate, meaning that the subject understands and shares an emotion with the object – as in “I feel your pain” – while sympathy is weaker and more distant – concern, but not shared emotion: “I care for you”.

Translations