Sympathy
Sympathy noun - Sorrow or the capacity to feel sorrow for another's suffering or misfortune.
Usage example: since losing her own brother to lung disease, the nurse has had greater sympathy for families going through the same agony
Understanding is a synonym for sympathy in empathy topic. In some cases you can use "Understanding" instead a noun "Sympathy", when it comes to topics like pity, shared feeling. popular alternative
Understanding
Understanding noun - An inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion.
Usage example: I knew I could count on his understanding
Sympathy is a synonym for understanding in compassion topic. You can use "Sympathy" instead a noun "Understanding", if it concerns topics such as belief, empathy. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- feeling and sympathy
- feeling and understanding
- kindness and sympathy
- kindness and understanding
- compassion and sympathy
- compassion and understanding
- warmth and sympathy
- warmth and understanding
- consideration and sympathy
- consideration and understanding
- empathy and sympathy
- empathy and understanding
- pity and sympathy
- pity and understanding
How words are described
| full | full sympathy | full understanding |
| natural | natural sympathy | natural understanding |
| certain | certain sympathy | certain understanding |
| genuine | genuine sympathy | genuine understanding |
| Other adjectives: deep, strong, actual, real, great, little, inherent, vague, general, apparent, less, slightest, mutual, growing. | ||
Both words in one sentence
- The scary part was the fact that it wasn't like most 'Dear Lord, this person is a psycho' lit because what came first was an understanding and sympathy with Ethel.
Source: Nightmare Fuel / Literature -
Robinson: Well before the Trope Namer and much more sympathetically and seriously done, with the older woman shown with more sympathy and understanding.
Source: Film / All That Heaven Allows - His older brothers and sister show all the sympathy and understanding that you would expect in the circumstances.
Source: Circumcision Angst
Cite this Source
Understanding and Sympathy. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/sympathy/understanding
Sympathy & Understanding. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/sympathy/understanding>.
Understanding or Sympathy. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/sympathy/understanding.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "sympathy" and "understanding" have occurred on timeline