Sympathy
Feeling concern for another's plight without sharing the feeling itself.
What it means
Sympathy is an other-oriented emotional response of concern, sorrow, or care for someone perceived to be in need or distress, felt for the person rather than fully shared with them. It differs from empathy, which involves vicariously experiencing the other's actual emotion, and from pity, which can carry a condescending sense of superiority. Sympathy can arise from merely knowing about another's situation, without the close affect matching that empathy requires, and it commonly motivates supportive and helping behavior. Because the distinction between sympathy, empathy, and compassion is drawn differently across theorists, careful definition matters in research and clinical practice. It is a key building block of prosocial motivation and moral concern.
Examples
Reading that a distant town was flooded, you feel genuine concern and donate, though you do not feel the residents' fear yourself.
A colleague mentions his father is in hospital. You feel a pang of concern and offer to cover his shift, without sharing the dread he is carrying around.
Your neighbour's message says the wedding is cancelled. You feel sorry for her and send flowers — concern for her situation, not the grief she is actually living through.
First described in Long philosophical lineage (Hume, Adam Smith, 18th c.); modern usage refined by Eisenberg.