What does sympathy mean?
Word: Sympathy
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Sympathy means the feeling of being sorry for someone who is sad or in trouble, and caring about how they feel.
Synonyms: compassion, kindness
Antonyms: indifference
How do you spell sympathy?
Syllables: sym - pa - thy
Tricky part: The first vowel is a y, not an i, and the sound in the middle is spelt th. Children often write it just as it sounds.
Watch out for: simpathy, sympaty, sympathie
Memory tip: The y in sympathy is the same y that you see in gym.
Sympathy in a sentence
Example 1: We felt sympathy for the puppy left out in the rain.
Example 2: The teacher showed sympathy when Kabir missed the school trip because of a cold.
Example 3: She wrote a card full of sympathy to her sick friend.
Fun Fact
Sympathy comes from Greek words meaning feeling together: when you feel sympathy, you share a little of someone else's sadness.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word: sympathy
a) anger
b) jealousy
c) pride
d) pity
Show answer
d) pity. Pity is the sorry feeling for someone in trouble, closest to sympathy.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
ytphsamy
a) sypmathy
b) smypathy
c) sympathy
d) spymathy
Show answer
c) sympathy. Smypathy, sypmathy and spymathy keep the y and the th but put the m and p in the wrong places.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) gentle
b) kindness
c) friendship
d) sympethy
Show answer
d) sympethy. The middle vowel of sympathy is a, not e.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
symmpathy
a) s
b) p
c) y
d) m
Show answer
d) m. Sympathy has a single m before the p.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. When would you feel sympathy?
a) when you finish homework
b) when you eat ice cream
c) when a friend hurts his knee
d) when you win a prize
Show answer
c) when a friend hurts his knee
2. Your friend is upset because his kite tore. Which reply shows sympathy?
a) Kites are silly anyway.
b) I am sorry, that is bad luck.
c) Stop making such a fuss.
d) Mine is far better than yours.
Show answer
b) I am sorry, that is bad luck.
