compassion
UK/kəmˈpæʃ.ən/
compassion noun: deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states.
Noun
compassion (usually uncountable, plural compassions)
- Deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states.
- Oh! the unspeakable privilege to have Him for our Father, who is the Father of mercies and compassions, and those not barren, fruitless pityings, for He is withal the God of all consolations.1849, Robert Leighton (Archbishop of Glasgow), A practical commentary upon the first Epistle of St. Peter (page 47)
- Other people's problems, they overwhelm my mind / They say compassion is a virtue, but I don't have the time1977, David Byrne, “No Compassion”, in Talking Heads: 77, performed by Talking Heads
- Deep awareness of the individual experiences of suffering of others or themselves that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such experiences, as reflected by the psychological term self-compassion.
- Similarly to the practice of loving kindness, meditation on compassion towards our own experience builds the foundation for expansion of the circle of compassion towards others.2013, Dusana Dorjee, Mind, Brain and the Path to Happiness — A Guide to Buddhist Mind Training and the Neuroscience of Meditation, page 75
- True leadership lies in compassion, not in coercion.
Verb
compassion (third-person singular simple present compassions, present participle compassioning, simple past and past participle compassioned)
- To pity.
- O heavens, can you hear a good man groan / And not relent, or not compassion him?c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Both wanted in early life the one thing essential to every individual, of whatever nature or degree of intellect, a kind, compassioning adviser; - a true friend;[…].1830, “The Last of the Supernaturalists”, in James Fraser, editor, Fraser's Magazine, volume 1, page 226
- Synonyms:
- commiserate, feel sorry for, compassionate, condole, feel someone's pain, mercify, pity, rue, take pity
compassion meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
compassion in Hindi
- deep awareness of the suffering of another
- दया dayā, करुणा karuṇā, संवेदना samvednā, सहानुभूति sahānubhūti
compassion in Tamil
- இரக்க உணர்வு, இரக்கம், கருணை, மனிதாபிமானம், கனிவு, மனித நேயம்
compassion in Marathi
- deep awareness of the suffering of another
- करुणा karuṇā, दया dayā
compassion in Urdu
- deep awareness of the suffering of another
- ترس, رحم rahm
More languagesFewer languages
- compassion in Bengali
- করুণা koruna
- compassion in Telugu
- కనికరము kanikaramu
- compassion in Malayalam
- അനുകമ്പ anukampa, സഹാനുഭൂതി sahānubhūti
- compassion in Kannada
- ಅಂಗತ aṅgata, ಕಕ್ಕುಲತೆ kakkulate
- compassion in Punjabi
- ਦਰਦ dard
- compassion in Gujarati
- કરુણા
- compassion in Odia
- କରୁଣା
- compassion in Sanskrit
- भूतदया bhūtadayā, करुणा karuṇā, दया dayā
- compassion in Tagalog
- awa
- compassion in Arabic
- رَحْمَة raḥma, شَفَقَة šafaqa
- compassion in Malay
- belas kasihan
- compassion in Indonesian
- belas kasih
- compassion in Persian
- رحم rahm, شفقت šafaqat
- compassion in Thai
- เมตตา mêet-dtaa, กรุณา gà-rú-naa, การุณย์
- compassion in Vietnamese
- từ bi, đồng cảm, lòng thương, lòng từ bi
- compassion in Myanmar
- ကရုဏာ ka.ru.na, အကြင်နာ a.krangna
Examples of compassion in a sentence
- In many ways, people today lack compassion as a way to internalize and experience the inner soul of the other person, animals, and the universe.2002, Werner J. Krieglstein, Compassion: A New Philosophy of the Other, page 149:
- Ethics of compassion are grounded in one's mindful commitment to one's own happiness with the recognition that the well being that one wishes for oneself also is wished for by others.2008, Richard Reilly, Ethics of Compassion: Bridging Ethical Theory and Religious Moral Discourse, page 1:
- From Master's words, I understand that having compassion does not mean allowing people to take advantage of us.2020 January 28, “My Understanding Of What It Means to Be Compassionate”, in Minghui.org, archived from the original on 10 Apr 2023:
- The widow's tears flowed wildly. / But Oh! a harbinger of life approached — / God, manifest in flesh — compassioned her, / And bade her weep no more.1836, William A. Brewer, The Widow's Son, in Recreations of a Merchant; Or, The Christian Sketch-book, page 27:
Synonyms of compassion
- commiserate
- feel sorry for
- feel someone's pain
- pity
- take pity
- empathy
- mercy
- ruth
- sorrow
- tenderheartedness
12 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of compassion
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | compassions |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | compassions |
| present participle | compassioning |
| past participle | compassioned |
| past | compassioned |
Origin of compassion
From Middle English compassioun, compassion, from Old French compassion, from Ecclesiastical Latin compassio (“sympathy”), from Latin compati, past participle compassus (“to suffer together with”), from com- (“together”) + pati (“to suffer”); see passion. By surface analysis, com- + passion.
Words formed from compassion
Phrases with compassion
Words that rhyme with compassion
Questions about compassion
- What does compassion mean?
- Compassion means deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states.
- What is compassion in Hindi?
- Compassion in Hindi is दया (dayā), करुणा (karuṇā), संवेदना (samvednā). See Compassion meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use compassion in a sentence?
- In many ways, people today lack compassion as a way to internalize and experience the inner soul of the other person, animals, and the universe.
- What part of speech is compassion?
- Compassion can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce compassion?
- Compassion is pronounced /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of compassion?
- The plural of compassion is compassions.
Words near compassion in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: compassion (page history and authors); compassion (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); కనికరము (Telugu) (page history and authors); ಅಂಗತ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ਦਰਦ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); compassion (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); compassion (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-compassion.ogg.
Cite this entry: “compassion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/compassion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.