sympathetic
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌsɪm.pəˈθɛt.ɪk/
rhymes: -ɛtɪk
Forms: form: more sympathetic
form: most sympathetic
form: sympathetick
form: sympathetical
Etymology: Mid 17th century in the sense “relating to an affinity or paranormal influence”, from Latin sympathēticus. By surface analysis, sympathy + -etic (“pertaining to”); compare pathetic. Displaced native Old English efnþrōwiende.
Senses: examples: text: John looked very upset. I gave him a sympathetic look.
text: Vaublanc, in San Domingo so sympathetic to the sorrows of labour in France, had to fly from Paris in August, 1792, to escape the wrath of the French workers.
ref: 1963, C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd revised edition, page 14:
antonyms: unsympathetic
glosses: Of, related to, feeling, showing, or characterized by sympathy.
antonyms: unsympathetic
glosses: Of, related to, feeling, showing, or characterized by sympathy.
Showing approval of or favor towards an idea or action.
synonyms: approving
glosses: Attracting the liking of others. (of a person)
topics: business
construction
manufacturing
glosses: Attracting the liking of others. (of a person)
Designed in a sensitive or appropriate way.
examples: text: Sympathetic magic is based on imitation or correspondence.
text: sympathetic ink
glosses: Relating to, producing, or denoting an effect which arises through an affinity, interdependence, or mutual association.
examples: text: One of his great enthusiasms was for a "sympathetic" weapon salve, an idea originating in Paracelsus.
ref: 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 225:
glosses: Relating to, producing, or denoting an effect which arises through an affinity, interdependence, or mutual association.
A supernatural connection or power resulting from two items having the same form or some other correspondence. (of magic)
glosses: Relating to, producing, or denoting an effect which arises through an affinity, interdependence, or mutual association.
Relating to musical tones produced by sympathetic vibration or to strings so tuned as to sound by sympathetic vibration.
qualifier: sound
examples: text: Sympathetic innervation involves epinephrine.
text: It was suggested that adrenaline might act at the junction of sympathetic nerves and the effector organs, and that adrenaline might be released at sympathetic nerve endings.
ref: 1967, Leslie L. Iversen, The Uptake and Storage of Noradrenaline in Sympathetic Nerves, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 23:
topics: anatomy
medicine
neuroanatomy
neurology
neuroscience
sciences
antonyms: parasympathetic
glosses: Relating to or denoting the part of the autonomic nervous system consisting of nerves arising from ganglia near the middle part of the spinal cord, supplying the internal organs, blood vessels, and glands, and balancing the action of the parasympathetic nerves.
Derived terms: antisympathetic
cardiosympathetic
neurosympathetic
nonsympathetic
oculosympathetic
orthosympathetic
oversympathetic
parasympathetic
perisympathetic
presympathetic
reflex sympathetic dystrophy
somatosympathetic
sympathetically
sympathetic chain
sympathetic detonation
sympathetic hyperactivity
sympathetic ink
sympathetic magic
sympathetic nervous system
sympatheticness
sympathetic powder
sympathetic string
sympathetic trunk
sympathetic vibration
sympatho-
sympath-
sympitar
unsympathetic
vagosympathetic
vestibulosympathetic
Related terms: sympathico-