Insensitive
Insensitive adjective - Having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings.
Usage example: an insensitive remark about his deceased wife that was incredibly rude
Sympathetic
Sympathetic adjective - Having or showing the capacity for sharing the feelings of another.
Usage example: needed a sympathetic listener who would understand her marital woes
Both words in one sentence
- Horrible's Sing-Along Blog; The Good Captain is big and dumb and a completely insensitive jerk, while the titular Doctor Horrible is by far a more sympathetic character despite his Morally Ambiguous Doctorate.
Source: Dumb Is Good - Hank Schrader, the Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist from Breaking Bad, has a habit of stereotyping his subjects and making somewhat, shall we say, politically insensitive remarks, particularly about Hispanics and poor people.
Source: Noble Bigot with a Badge -
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Daigoro Nittai is such a pathetic loser that you cant help but feel sorry for him Innocently Insensitive: Koushi telling Sanae he hates martial artist and thinks theyre all freaks without knowing that she is one of the zodiac clans.
Source: Manga / Sumomo Mo Momo Mo
Cite this Source
Sympathetic and Insensitive. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/insensitive/sympathetic
Insensitive & Sympathetic. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/insensitive/sympathetic>.
Sympathetic or Insensitive. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/insensitive/sympathetic.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "insensitive" and "sympathetic" have occurred on timeline