commiserate

Adjective

commiserate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete, rare) Commiserating, pitying, lamentful.
   • In the time of Gregory Nazianzene, if we may credit ecclesiastical records, there sprung up the direfulest mortality in Rome that mankind hath been acquainted with; scarce able were the living to bury the dead, and not so much but their streets were digged up for graves, which this holy Father...1593: Thomas Nashe, Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem, page 157 (1815 edited republication)

Verb

UK/kəˈmɪzəɹeɪt/

commiserate (third-person singular simple present commiserates, present participle commiserating, simple past and past participle commiserated)

1. (transitive) To feel or express compassion or sympathy for (someone or something).
   • A few individuals who commiserated the unhappy condition of British negro slaves.
   • Lord Meersbrook had remarked the same woman a day or two before, peering into the area, as if looking for some of the servants, yet neither venturing to ring nor knock; he concluded she was there for no good, but the self-commiserating tone in which she spoke, together with her Irish accent, now...1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 160

   Synonyms:

   compassionate, feel sorry for, compassion, condole, feel someone's pain, mercify, pity, rue, take pity

2. (intransitive) To sympathize; condole.
3. (ambitransitive) To offer condolences jointly with; express sympathy with.