feelings of sadness or concern for someone else's problems, or agreement with someone's feelings or cause.
From Greek 'sympatheia' (syn-together + pathos-feeling). It literally means 'feeling together with.' The term evolved from medicine (where it meant one organ affecting another) to emotional sharing.
The word 'sympathies' usually appears in condolence messages, but the Greek root actually means your feelings literally vibrate in sync with someone else's—it's not just sadness, it's a physical resonance that ancient Greeks believed happened between people.
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