different between amorous vs sympathetic

English

Alternative forms

• amourous

Etymology

From Middle English amorous, amerous (14th century), from Old French amoros, amoreus, from Medieval Latin am?r?sus, from Latin amor (“love”), related to am?re (“to love”). Compare French amoureux (“in love”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æ.m??s/, /?æ.m?.??s/

Adjective

amorous (comparative more amorous, superlative most amorous)

1. Inclined or having a propensity to love, or to sexual enjoyment.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

   Synonyms: loving, fond, affectionate

2. Indicating love or sexual desire.
   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 218):

     There was no tune to it, only amorous gruntings like those of some old satyr who had furnished music for Circe's revels.

3. Of or relating to, or produced by, love.

4. (dated) Affected with love; in love; enamored.

Synonyms

• concupiscent
• lustful

Derived terms

• amorously

Related terms

• amour

Translations

References

• amorous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• amorous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Alternative forms

• sympathetick (obsolete)
• sympathetical

Etymology

Mid 17th century in the sense “relating to an affinity or paranormal influence”, from sympathy +? -etic (“pertaining to”), on the pattern of pathetic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?m.p????t.?k/
• Rhymes: -?t?k

Adjective

sympathetic (comparative more sympathetic, superlative most sympathetic)

1. Of, related to, feeling, showing, or characterized by sympathy.

   Antonym: unsympathetic

   1. Showing approval of or favor towards an idea or action.

      Synonym: approving

2. (of a person) Attracting the liking of others.
   1. (construction) Designed in a sensitive or appropriate way.
3. (relational) Relating to, producing, or denoting an effect which arises through an affinity, interdependence, or mutual association.
   1. (of magic) A supernatural connection or power resulting from two items having the same form or some other correspondence.
   2. (sound) Relating to musical tones produced by sympathetic vibration or to strings so tuned as to sound by sympathetic vibration.
4. (neuroanatomy, neurology, relational) Relating to or denoting the part of the autonomic nervous system consisting of nerves arising from ganglia near the middle part of the spinal cord, supplying the internal organs, blood vessels, and glands, and balancing the action of the parasympathetic nerves.

   Antonym: parasympathetic

Derived terms

Related terms

• sympathico-

Translations

References

• “sympathetic”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “sympathetic”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).