Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use sympathize in a sentence

15 example sentences · verb

Sympathize means to have, show or express sympathy; to be affected by feelings similar to those of another, in consequence of knowing the person to be thus affected; to feel for. Example: “The wives were sympathizing with each other in slightly raised voices.”

Examples of sympathize by meaning

verbTo have, show or express sympathy; to be affected by feelings similar to those of another, in consequence of knowing...

  • The wives were sympathizing with each other in slightly raised voices.1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 3, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1953, →ISBN, page 52

verbTo support, favour, have sympathy (with a political cause or movement, a side in a conflict / in an action).

  • Oh, God, we elected a guy who sympathizes with bees?2014, Norm Macdonald Live, season 2, episode 9, spoken by Norm Macdonald

More sentences with sympathize

  • But she sympathized most on the issue of government representation of the rural Oregonian region.2023 March 15, Kyung Lah and Jack Hannah, “Partisan rancor in Oregon spills over into Idaho effort to absorb its rural neighbors”, in CNN. From the entry Oregonian
  • This is a variation of the Helsinki Syndrome, in which hostages come to sympathize with their captors.2001, Quinton Skinner, Do I Look Like a Daddy to You?:, page 90. From the entry Helsinki syndrome
  • Harry and Meghan are easy to sympathize with.2020 January 10, Tom McTague, “The Hypocrisy of Harry and Meghan’s Decision”, in The Atlantic. From the entry cakeist
  • Plato sympathizes with the desire to influence weak-minded people.2013, Kevin S. Decker, Jason T. Eberl, William Irwin, Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine, →ISBN. From the entry weak-minded
  • Although a Riverbanker at heart, Kenneth Grahame would have understood the revolution and sympathized with the Wild Wooders.2013, Pat Shirley, From the Riverbank to Middle Earth and Beyond, page 84. From the entry riverbanker
  • But dictionary editors throughout history would sympathize.2009 October 1, Jesse Sheidlower, “Why it's so hard to put sex in the dictionary.”, in Slate Magazine. From the entry priggish
  • After the whomper headache she'd had yesterday, Mia sympathized.2006, Lynn Michaels, Marriage by Design, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 214. From the entry whomper
  • Come along, and you'll be able to sympathize with all poor souls who have to play gooseberry often.1915, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “In the Park”, in Anne of the Island. From the entry play gooseberry
  • If Manglano-Ovalle sympathizes with the balseros, Kara Walker's installation at the Renaissance Society is so over-the-top it can hardly be reduced to a simple argument.1997 February 7, Fred Camper, “Anti-Masterpieces”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry balsero
  • Leading Republicans do not sympathize with the mullahs, do not repeat their talking points, and do not seek to appease them when they make outrageous claims about other countries.2024 April 15, Anne Applebaum, “Why Did U.S. Planes Defend Israel but Not Ukraine?”, in The Atlantic. From the entry mullah
  • And anyway, he expositorily tells us that he cares about American Indians and even sympathizes, somewhat, with the Sioux insurgency at Little Bighorn — or is that their “resistance”?2007 May 25, Virginia Heffernan, “There’s an Allegory in Those Hills”, in New York Times. From the entry expositorily
  • Whereas retribution focuses on the offender's wrong, retaliation focuses on the impulse of the victim (or of those who sympathize with him) to strike back at the offender.1983, Richard A. Posner, The economics of justice, m p.208. From the entry retribution
  • It is tiresome and very balking to have to leave one's business , " said the deacon , who could sympathize with the ready-made clothier's supposititious feelings .1900, Isabel Smith, The Minister's Guest, page 350. From the entry balking

Meaning of sympathize

  1. verb To have, show or express sympathy; to be affected by feelings similar to those of another, in consequence of knowing the person to be thus affected; to feel for.
  2. verb To support, favour, have sympathy (with a political cause or movement, a side in a conflict / in an action).
  3. verb To say in an expression of sympathy.

Full definition of sympathize

Questions about sympathize in a sentence

How do you use sympathize in a sentence?
Sympathize is used as a verb. For example: “The wives were sympathizing with each other in slightly raised voices.”
What is a short sentence with sympathize?
“But dictionary editors throughout history would sympathize.”
What does sympathize mean?
Sympathize means to have, show or express sympathy; to be affected by feelings similar to those of another, in consequence of knowing the person to be thus affected; to feel for.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sympathize (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use sympathize in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/sympathize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.