compassion
/kəmˈpaʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
Sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others: the victims should be treated with compassion...
- He had no pity, no compassion, no understanding of what the victims of war suffered.
- However, lofty doctors who show no warmth, compassion or concern are becoming rare.
- We missed the feeding, thanks to me and my friends' compassion for my emotions.
Synonyms
pity, sympathy, feeling, fellow feeling, empathy, understanding, care, concern, solicitude, solicitousness, sensitivity, tender-heartedness, soft-heartedness, warm-heartedness, warmth, love, brotherly love, tenderness, gentleness, mercy, mercifulness, leniency, lenience, tolerance, consideration, kindness, humanity, humaneness, kind-heartedness, charity, benevolence
Origin
Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin compassio(n-), from compati 'suffer with'.
passion from Old English:
The word passion comes via Old French from Latin pati ‘to suffer’. The Passion refers to the suffering of Jesus Christ. The sexual sense dates from the late 16th century. Passionate in late Middle English included the senses ‘easily moved to passion’ and ‘enraged’. Passive (Late Middle English) comes from the same root, from the sense of ‘being acted upon’, and compassion (Middle English) is literally ‘suffering with’ someone, while compatible (Late Middle English) comes from the Latin for ‘fit to suffer with’.