compassionate
/kəmˈpæʃənət/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.55 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
4
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To feel compassion (for someone or with regard to something); to regard (someone or something) with compassion.
Archaic; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "The Compassionate, the All-Compassionate"
- "As a compassionate Turcoyse which doth tell By looking pale, the wearer is not well,"
- "1675, Robert South, A Sermon preached at Christ-Church, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, London: Thomas Bennett, 1692, p. 574, […] there never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender, and compassionate."
- "He was by nature so exceedingly compassionate of anyone who seemed to be ill at ease […] that he shook hands with Mr. Micawber, at least half-a-dozen times in five minutes."
- "[…] the compassionate pangs I felt for soon-to-be redundant workers were not overwhelming in their frequency; our job required a degree of commitment that left one with rather limited time for such distractions."
- "[Hakeem] Jeffries hailed the Obamas as “brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans” and denounced Trump as “a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder”."
Etymology
Pseudo-Latinism, derived from a pseudo-Latin form of French compassionné, past participle of compassionner (“to feel sorry for”). By surface analysis, compassion + -ate.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: compassionné
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /kəmˈpæʃənət/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more compassionate (comparative)
most compassionate (superlative)
compassionates (present, singular)
compassionating (participle, present)
compassionated (participle, past)
compassionated (past)