When you understand and feel another’s feelings for your yourself, you have empathy. It’s often spoken of as a character attribute that people have to varying degrees. For example, if hearing a tragic news story makes you feel almost as if the story concerned you personally, you have the ability to empathize.
When you sympathize with someone, you have feelings for that person, but you don’t necessarily feel her feelings. For instance, you may feel a sense of regret or compassion about someone else’s hardship, but you’re not placing yourself in that person’s shoes.
Examples
These writers use empathy well:
The government must not mistake the empathy we feel for Denise Fergus’s loss with sympathy for her views . . . [Guardian]
Male participants . . . will walk a mile-long obstacle course in high-heel shoes to give men a sense of empathy for the female experience. [The Sun News]
Altruism is likely driven by empathy—our tendency to “resonate” with the emotional and physical states of other people. [Wired]
And these writers use sympathy well:
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao conveyed sympathy to the nine coal miners who were safely taken out of the Wangjialing Coal Mine . . . [English.news.cn]
Bruce says he has sympathy with the player’s stance, describing his frustrations as completely appropriate. [SAFC]
Sympathy can also take the form of support or allegiance with respect to a condition or cause—for example:
Unions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden have said they may carry out industrial action in sympathy with striking British Airways (BA) cabin crews. [BBC]
On the streets of Shanghai, there was little sympathy for Google in its battle with the Chinese government, even among fans of the search engine. [Telegraph]
