Meaning Empathy Vs Sympathy

In looking at the difference between sympathy and empathy you must first understand what they are.

Meaning empathy vs sympathy. Empathy entered english a few centuries after sympathy in the late 1800s with a somewhat technical and now obsolete meaning from the field of psychology. Empathy is a newer word also related to pathos but there is a greater implication of emotional distance. Sympathy definition origin and examples.

The use of the word empathy versus the use of the word sympathy has been a cause of mistake for several speakers of the language. Are you confused about the usage of the words empathy and sympathy. It goes beyond sympathy which is caring and understanding for the suffering of others both words are used similarly and often interchangeably incorrectly so but differ subtly in their emotional meaning.

This article tries to explain the meaning of these words and helps you understand how to. Sympathy constructed from the greek sym meaning together and pathos referring to feelings or emotion is used to describe when one person shares the same feelings of another such as when someone close is experiencing grief or loss.