Word.ws English Dictionary

hyperempathy

hyperempathy noun: the state of having an above-average level of empathy, or of experiencing empathy more intensely than others.

Noun

hyperempathy (uncountable)

  1. The state of having an above-average level of empathy, or of experiencing empathy more intensely than others.
    • And hyper-empathy about others' suffering can get in the way of our ability to function.2020, Sarah Jaquette Ray, A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet, page 107
    • Despite this, research to date has largely ignored the Autistic experience of hyper-empathy.2023, Davida Hartman, Tara O'Donnell-Killen, Jessica K. Doyle, Maeve Kavanagh, Anna Day, Juliana Azevedo, The Adult Autism Assessment Handbook: A Neurodiversity Affirmative Approach, page 54

Forms of hyperempathy

alternative formhyper-empathy

Origin of hyperempathy

From hyper- + empathy.

Questions about hyperempathy

What does hyperempathy mean?
Hyperempathy means the state of having an above-average level of empathy, or of experiencing empathy more intensely than others.
What part of speech is hyperempathy?
Hyperempathy is a noun.

Words near hyperempathy in the dictionary

  1. hyperemotionality
  2. hyperemotionally
  3. hyperemotive
  4. hyperemotivity
  5. hyperempathetic
  6. hyperempathy
  7. hyperemphases
  8. hyperemphasis
  9. hyperemphasize
  10. hyperemphasized
  11. hyperemphasizes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hyperempathy (page history and authors). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hyperempathy.wav.

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