empathetic

Also em·path·ic

[em-puh-thet-ik]

adjective

1. relating to or characterized by empathy, the psychological identification with the emotions, thoughts, or attitudes of others.

   One of the great strengths of the school is our sensitive, empathetic counseling staff.

Other Word Forms

• empathetically adverb
• empathically adverb
• nonempathic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of empathetic¹

First recorded in 1930–35; empath(y) + -etic

Example Sentences

“I found my community here, a place of loving, supportive and empathetic people. Nudist or not, that’s hard to find.”

From Los Angeles Times

Knox has established herself as a talented writer and a thoughtful, empathetic voice speaking on behalf of the wrongly accused, including herself.

From Salon

Peanuts,’ like ‘Mister Rogers,’ presents an empathetic and nuanced, not dumbed-down view of the world, and that is rare for kids programming,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times

One moment, she’s an empathetic audience stand-in, the next she’s Kathy Bates in “Misery.”

From Los Angeles Times

The family members offered memories of their lost loved ones, describing the four students as bright and empathetic.

From BBC

Related Words

• compassionate 
• sensitive 
• sympathetic 

When To Use

What does empathetic mean?

Empathetic means having or tending to have empathy—the ability or practice of imagining or trying to deeply understand what someone else is feeling or what it’s like to be in their situation.Empathy is often described as the ability to feel what others are feeling as if you are feeling it yourself. To feel empathy for someone is to empathize. People who do this are described as empathetic.Some people use the word empathetic interchangeably or in overlapping ways with the word sympathetic, which generally means sharing or tending to share emotions with someone else, especially sadness. However, others distinguish the two terms by emphasizing the importance of being empathetic toward others (feeling their pain) as opposed to being sympathetic toward them (feeling sorry for them).A less common variant of empathetic is empathic.Example: Having faced many of the same challenges, Nyala is empathetic to the struggles of immigrants.