compassionate

Language: en

🇺🇸 /kəˈmpæʃənət/

📖 Definitions

  1. adjective
    Feeling or showing sympathy and concern for others who are suffering or in distress; characterized by compassion.; Inviting or asking for pity; arousing compassion.
  2. verb
    To feel compassion for; to pity; to sympathize with someone's suffering.
  3. adjective
    Relating to or granted on the grounds of compassion, especially in official or legal contexts, such as compassionate leave or compassionate release from prison.; Used in medicine to describe the use of an unapproved drug or treatment for a patient with a serious or life-threatening condition when no other options are available.

🔗 Details

Word forms

3rd sing.: compassionates Past: compassionated Past part.: compassionated Pres part.: compassionating Comparative: more compassionate Superlative: most compassionate

Collocations

compassionate leavecompassionate groundscompassionate carecompassionate usecompassionate responsecompassionate heart

Derivatives

compassioncompassionatelycompassionatenesscompassionless

Synonyms

sympatheticempatheticcaringtendermercifulhumanekind

Antonyms

cruelheartlesscallousindifferent

Commonly confused

compassion
EN: 'Compassion' is the noun (the feeling itself); 'compassionate' is the adjective describing someone who feels or shows compassion.
empathetic
EN: 'Empathetic' means sharing another's feelings from their perspective; 'compassionate' emphasizes a desire to alleviate suffering.
passionate
EN: 'Passionate' means having strong emotions or enthusiasm; 'compassionate' specifically relates to sympathy and concern for others' suffering.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember 'compassionate' has double 's' and ends in '-ate', not '-ant'. The noun form is 'compassion' (no '-ate').

💬 Examples

  1. She was a compassionate nurse who always went out of her way to comfort her patients.

  2. The child gave a compassionate look that melted everyone's heart.

  3. He compassionate the poor widow who had lost everything in the flood.

  4. The prisoner was granted compassionate release to attend his dying mother's bedside.

  5. The FDA approved the experimental drug for compassionate use in terminally ill patients.