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Remorse vs Empathy - What's the difference?

remorse | empathy |

As nouns the difference between remorse and empathy

is that remorse is a feeling of regret or sadness for doing wrong or sinning while empathy is the intellectual identification of the thoughts, feelings, or state of another person.

remorse

English

(wikipedia remorse)

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Noun

  • A feeling of regret or sadness for doing wrong or sinning.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=December 14 , author=Steven Morris , title=Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , work=Guardian citation , page= , passage=Jailing her on Wednesday, magistrate Liz Clyne told Robins: "You have shown little remorse either for the death of the kitten or the trauma to your former friend Sarah Knutton." She was also banned from keeping animals for 10 years.}}
  • * 1897 , ,"
    • Failure, disgrace, poverty, sorrow, despair, suffering, tears even, the broken words that come from lips in pain, remorse that makes one walk on thorns, conscience that condemns . . . —all these were things of which I was afraid.
  • (obsolete) Sorrow; pity; compassion.
  • * 1597 , , King John , act 4, sc. 3,
    • This is the bloodiest shame,
    The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke,
    That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage
    Presented to the tears of soft remorse .

    Synonyms

    * (regret or sadness for doing wrong) agenbite, compunction, contrition, penitence, repentance, self-reproach * See also

    Derived terms

    (Terms derived from "remorse") * buyer's remorse * remorseless

    Related terms

    (Terms related to "remorse") * remorseful * remorsefully * remorseless * remorselessly

    Hypernyms

    * regret, sadness

    See also

    * apology

    empathy

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia empathy)
  • the intellectual identification of the thoughts, feelings, or state of another person
  • capacity to understand another person's point of view or the result of such understanding
    • She had a lot of empathy for her neighbor; she knew what it was like to lose a parent too.
  • (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 (term) is weaker and more distant – concern, but not shared emotion: “I care for you”.