Sympathize vs Lament - What's the difference?
sympathize | lament |
To show sympathy; to be affected by feelings similar to those of another, in consequence of knowing the person to be thus affected.
* Addison
To have a common feeling, as of bodily pleasure or pain.
* Buckminster
To agree; to be in accord; to harmonize.
To express grief; to weep or wail; to mourn.
* Bible, John xvi. 20
To feel great sorrow or regret; to bewail.
* 2014 , , "
* Dryden
As verbs the difference between sympathize and lament
is that sympathize is to show sympathy; to be affected by feelings similar to those of another, in consequence of knowing the person to be thus affected while lament is to express grief; to weep or wail; to mourn.As a noun lament is
an expression of grief, suffering, or sadness.sympathize
English
Verb
(North America)- Their countrymen sympathized with their heroes in all their adventures.
- The mind will sympathize so much with the anguish and debility of the body, that it will be too distracted to fix itself in meditation.
- (Dryden)
Usage notes
Used similarly to empathize, interchangeably in looser usage. In stricter usage, (term) is stronger and more intimate, while sympathize is weaker and more distant; see . Further, the general “agree, accord” sense of sympathize is not shared with (term).lament
English
Derived terms
* (l) (rare)Verb
(en verb)- Ye shall weep and lament , but the world shall rejoice.
Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter", The Guardian , 18 October 2014:
- By the end, Sunderland were lucky to lose by the same scoreline Northampton Town suffered against Southampton, in 1921. The Sunderland manager, Gus Poyet, lamented that it was “the most embarrassed I’ve ever been on a football pitch, without a doubt”.
- One laughed at follies, one lamented crimes.
