different between sympathy vs concern

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French sympathie, from Late Latin sympath?a (“feeling in common”), from Ancient Greek ?????????? (sumpátheia, “fellow feeling”), from ???????? (sumpath?s, “affected by like feelings; exerting mutual influence, interacting”) +? -?? (-ia, “-y”, nominal suffix); equivalent to sym- (“acting or considered together”) +? -pathy (“feeling”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?m.p??.i/
• Rhymes: -?mp??i

Noun

sympathy (countable and uncountable, plural sympathies)

1. A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.

   Synonym: compassion

   1. (in the plural) The formal expression of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune.
   2. The ability to share the feelings of another.
2. Inclination to think or feel alike; emotional or intellectual accord; common feeling.
   1. (in the plural) Support in the form of shared feelings or opinions.
   2. Feeling of loyalty; tendency towards, agreement with or approval of an opinion or aim; a favorable attitude.

3. An affinity, association or mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.
   1. Mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it.
   2. (art) Artistic harmony, as of shape or colour in a painting.

Usage notes

• Used similarly to empathy, interchangeably in looser usage. In stricter usage, empathy is stronger and more intimate, while sympathy is weaker and more distant; see empathy: usage notes.

Antonyms

• contempt (context-dependent)

Derived terms

Translations

References

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

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French concerner, from Medieval Latin concern?, concernere (“I distinguish, have respect to”), from Latin concern? (“I mix, sift, or mingle together, as in a sieve”), combined form of con- + cern? (“distinguish”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /k?n?s?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k?n?s??n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n
• Hyphenation: con?cern

Noun

concern (countable and uncountable, plural concerns)

1. That which affects one’s welfare or happiness. A matter of interest to someone.

   Synonym: interest

2. The expression of solicitude, anxiety, or compassion toward a thing or person.
3. A business, firm or enterprise; a company.

4. (programming) Any set of information that affects the code of a computer program.
   • 2006, Awais Rashid, Mehmet Aksit, Transactions on Aspect-Oriented Software Development II, page 148:

     At the programming level, an aspect is a modular unit that implements a concern.

Translations

Further reading

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

Verb

concern (third-person singular simple present concerns, present participle concerning, simple past and past participle concerned)

1. (transitive) To relate or belong to; to have reference to or connection with; to affect the interest of; to be of importance to.
   • 1611, Bible (KJV), Acts xxviii. 31

     Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.

   • 1708, Joseph Addison, The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation

     our wars with France have always affected us in our most tender interests, and concerned us more than those we have had with any other nation

   • 1821, James Fenimore Cooper, The Spy

     ignorant, so far as the usual instruction was concerned
2. (transitive) To engage by feeling or sentiment; to interest.
   • a. 1729, John Rogers, A Sufficiency adjusted and recommended

     They think themselves out the reach of Providence, and no longer concerned to solicit his favour.
3. (transitive) To make somebody worried.

Synonyms

• (to be of importance to): See also Thesaurus:pertain

Derived terms

• concernable

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English concern.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?s?rn/
• Hyphenation: con?cern
• Rhymes: -?rn

Noun

concern n (plural concerns, diminutive concerntje n)

1. company, business, concern

Derived terms

• chemieconcern