As someone who studied English and teaches it, there is a tendency to want to correct the mistakes that I commonly hear in everyday conversation. I usually don't to avoid being annoying. However, here I offer a mini-lesson on the difference between sympathy and empathy, because I hear them misused a great deal.
Empathy is identifying personally with what someone else may feel, which usually comes from a similar experience you have had yourself. Dictionary.com defines it this way: "the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another." Sympathy, in contrast, is acknowledgment or recognition of another person's feelings. A literal example of this is: When a woman complains about the pain she has from wearing high-heels all day long. If a man says, "Oh, you should wear more comfortable shoes," he is sympathizing with her. But if he has worn high-heels himself all day, and personally understands the pain of wearing them, he can empathize with her. Another example is: That a man can sympathize with the pain of a woman giving birth, but he can never empathize with a woman in that way, because men cannot give birth themselves. Usually we use sympathy and empathy in situations when someone is suffering emotional pain, which makes it a little more difficult to distinguish between empathy and sympathy. But I hope my examples help you to make the distinction and to use the words more properly next time. :)
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About Growing Your EnglishEnglish Steward strives to help students to better their abilities in English writing, reading and speaking. Archives
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