compassionate
/kəmˈpæʃənət/
compassionate adjective: having, feeling or showing compassion (to or toward someone).
Adjective
compassionate (comparative more compassionate, superlative most compassionate)
- Having, feeling or showing compassion (to or toward someone).
- The Compassionate, the All-Compassionate
- As a compassionate Turcoyse which doth tell
By looking pale, the wearer is not well,1611, John Donne, An Anatomy of the World, London: Samuel Macham
- Synonyms:
- empathetic, sympathetic, ruthful
- Given to someone as an exception because of a family emergency or a death in their family.
- compassionate leave; a compassionate visa
- Inviting or asking for pity.
- It boots thee not to be compassionate:
After our sentence plaining comes too late.1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to...
- It boots thee not to be compassionate:
Verb
UK/kəmˈpæʃəneɪt/
compassionate (third-person singular simple present compassionates, present participle compassionating, simple past and past participle compassionated)
- To feel compassion (for someone or with regard to something); to regard (someone or something) with compassion.
- […] seeing them die so wofully in the flames, he compassionated them.1602, G. Bishop et al., chapter 6, in Thomas Lodge, transl., The Famous and Memorable Workes of Josephus, London, page 733
- The Justice which Mr. Allworthy had executed on Partridge, at first met with universal Approbation; but no sooner had he felt its Consequences, than his Neighbours began to relent, and to compassionate his Case;1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 6, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book II, page 83
- Synonyms:
- pity, feel sorry for, commiserate, compassion, condole, feel someone's pain, mercify, rue, take pity
compassionate meaning in Marathi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
compassionate in Marathi
- compassionate
- संवेदनशील sauvedanśīl
compassionate in Urdu
- compassionate, affectionate, merciful
- شفیق śafīq
compassionate in Bengali
- পরদুঃখকাতর, করুণা পূর্ণ, সহানুভূতিসম্পন্ন, সদয়
compassionate in Malayalam
- മനസ്സലിവുളള, ആർദ്രചിത്തനായ, കരുണാർദ്രമായ, ദയാലുവായ, അനുകമ്പയാർന്ന
More languagesFewer languages
- compassionate in Kannada
- ಸಹಾನುಭೂತಿಯುಳ್ಳವರು, ಸಹಾನುಭೂತಿಯುಳ್ಳವಳು, ಸಹಾನುಭೂತಿಯುಳ್ಳವ
- compassionate in Odia
- ଅନୁକମ୍ପାଶୀଳ
- compassionate in Nepali
- करुणामय, अनुकम्पापूर्ण
- compassionate in Arabic
- شَفَقَة šafaqa
- compassionate in Indonesian
- berbelas kasih
Examples of compassionate in a sentence
- He was by nature so exceedingly compassionate of anyone who seemed to be ill at ease […] that he shook hands with Mr.1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 49, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […]...
- [Hakeem] Jeffries hailed the Obamas as “brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans” and denounced Trump as “a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder”.2026 February 7, Richard Luscombe, Shrai Popat, Robert Mackey, “Trump refuses to apologize for video with racist imagery of Obamas posted...
- “[…] if she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as that.”1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter III, in Jane Eyre. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […]...
- Helen laughed at these sentimental remarks, and wondered that Madame herself did not compassionate her lodger, and console him1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I...
Synonyms of compassionate
13 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of compassionate
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more compassionate |
| superlative | most compassionate |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | compassionates |
| present participle | compassionating |
| past participle | compassionated |
| past | compassionated |
Origin of compassionate
Pseudo-Latinism, derived from a pseudo-Latin form of French compassionné, past participle of compassionner (“to feel sorry for”). By surface analysis, compassion + -ate.
Words formed from compassionate
Phrases with compassionate
Questions about compassionate
- What does compassionate mean?
- Compassionate means having, feeling or showing compassion (to or toward someone).
- What is compassionate in Marathi?
- Compassionate in Marathi is संवेदनशील (sauvedanśīl). See Compassionate meaning in Marathi.
- How do you use compassionate in a sentence?
- He was by nature so exceedingly compassionate of anyone who seemed to be ill at ease […] that he shook hands with Mr.
- What part of speech is compassionate?
- Compassionate can be an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce compassionate?
- Compassionate is pronounced /kəmˈpæʃənət/ (UK).
Words near compassionate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: compassionate (page history and authors); संवेदनशील (Marathi) (page history and authors); شفیق (Urdu) (page history and authors); compassionate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); compassionate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); compassionate (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); compassionate (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); compassionate (Nepali, 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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Cite this entry: “compassionate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/compassionate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.