different between sympathy vs conscience

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

From Middle English conscience, from Old French conscience, from Latin conscientia (“knowledge within oneself”), from consciens, present participle of conscire (“to know, to be conscious (of wrong)”), from com- (“together”) + scire (“to know”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?n??ns/

Noun

conscience (countable and uncountable, plural consciences)

1. The moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects one's own behaviour.
   • 1949, Albert Einstein, as quoted by Virgil Henshaw in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist,

     Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it.

   • 1951, Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication), part V: “The Merchant Princes”, chapter 14, page 175, ¶ 7

     [“]Twer is not a friend of mine testifying against me reluctantly and for conscience’ sake, as the prosecution would have you believe. He is a spy, performing his paid job.[”]
2. (chiefly fiction, narratology) A personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, usually in the form of a person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lessons and advices.
3. (obsolete) Consciousness; thinking; awareness, especially self-awareness.
   • 1603, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 3, scene 1,

     Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

     And thus the native hue of resolution

     Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often used with "conscience": good, bad, guilty. A good conscience is one free from guilt, a bad conscience the opposite.
• Phrases: for reasons of conscience, to make conscience of, to make a matter of conscience, to act according to the dictates of conscience concerning (any matter), or to scruple to act contrary to its dictates.

Derived terms

Related terms

• conscientious
• conscientiously
• conscientiousness
• conscionable
• consciousness

Translations

See also

• synteresis

Further reading

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

French

Etymology

From Old French conscience, borrowed from Latin conscientia (“knowledge within oneself”), from consciens, present participle of conscire (“to know, to be conscious (of wrong)”), from com- (“together”) + scire (“to know”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.sj??s/
• Homophone: consciences
• Hyphenation: con?science

Noun

conscience f (plural consciences)

1. conscience
2. consciousness

Antonyms

• inconscience

Derived terms

Related terms

• conscient
• science

References

• “conscience” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Alternative forms

• consience, conciens

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French conscience.

Noun

conscience (plural consciences)

1. conscience

Descendants

• English: conscience
• Yola: coshes

References

• “conscience, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Alternative forms

• cunscience (Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin conscientia (“knowledge within oneself”).

Noun

conscience f (oblique plural consciences, nominative singular conscience, nominative plural consciences)

1. conscience

Descendants

• French: conscience
• ? Middle English: conscience, consience, conciens
  • English: conscience
  • Yola: coshes