All words

compassion

Meaning

A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

Seeing the child cry after falling, a wave of deep sympathy washed over her. She felt so sad for his hurt, a strong wish forming to help him feel better. This feeling of deep sorrow for his misfortune, and the desire to ease his pain, was compassion.

The old robot watched the lone maintenance drone sputter, its small lights dimming. A strange ache bloomed in its own circuits, a heavy sorrow for the little machine’s broken gears. It felt a powerful urge to fix the drone, to ease its silent distress.

The mechanic saw the old farmer's worry as the tractor sputtered. His heart ached with compassion for the man, knowing how much the harvest depended on it. He wanted to fix it fast, easing the farmer's deep sadness.

Barnaby the bear saw a tiny mouse drop its cookie. His big, furry heart went *thump-thump* with a feeling of deep sympathy for the sad mouse. He really wanted to help, so he offered the mouse half his honey pot.

Mr. Snugglebottom, the hamster, watched his prize-winning sunflower seed roll off the table. A wave of deep sympathy washed over him for the seed's unfortunate tumble, a feeling so strong he desperately wanted to fetch it back. This compassion, though aimed at a snack, was truly admirable.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

Seeing the child cry after falling, a wave of deep sympathy washed over her. She felt a strong desire to help him up and comfort him, a genuine compassion for his hurt and sadness.

Watching the child cry, their balloon lost to the sky, a pang of deep sympathy struck me. I wished so badly I could help them get it back, to ease their obvious unhappiness. That feeling, that sorrow for their loss and desire to fix it, is what compassion is.

The old man sat by the window, his face etched with years of hardship. Watching the younger boy struggle to repair the broken automaton, a wave of deep sympathy washed over him. He felt a strong desire to help, to ease the boy's frustration, a true sense of compassion blooming in his chest.

Barnaby, usually a curmudgeon who’d hoard even free samples, felt a pang of deep sympathy for the squirrel who’d lost its prize walnut. A strong desire to alleviate its suffering, perhaps by sharing his emergency biscuit stash, washed over him. It was a rare moment of pure compassion.

Barnaby, observing the squirrel's valiant, yet ultimately futile, attempt to hoard a single, suspiciously round pebble, felt a profound compassion. He imagined the tiny creature's crushing disappointment, its dreams of a pebble empire dashed, and couldn't help but wish he could just hand it a tiny, pre-packaged acorn of solace.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

Seeing the homeless man shiver, a wave of deep sympathy washed over her. She felt his sorrow and a strong desire to help, a profound compassion urging her to offer him her coat and a warm meal, hoping to alleviate his misfortune.

Seeing the exhausted, mud-caked faces of the migrant workers after a grueling day in the sun, a profound feeling of sorrow and sympathy washed over me. I couldn't bear to witness their hardship and felt an intense desire to offer them water and some respite from their toil.

The explorer, his canteen long empty, watched his companion shiver. A deep sympathy for the man's suffering, a potent desire to ease his pain, welled within him. He shared his last, meager portion of dried rations, a quiet act born of pure compassion.

Barnaby, witnessing his hamster's frantic attempts to escape a rogue sock puppet, felt a profound feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for the rodent's predicament. With a strong desire to alleviate the suffering, he gently intervened, knowing true compassion meant rescuing the tiny creature from its fluffy nemesis.

The badger, usually quite stoic, felt a profound sense of sorrow for the earthworm attempting to navigate a newly paved sidewalk. A strong desire to alleviate the minuscule creature's predicament welled up, prompting the badger to gently nudge it back towards the damp soil.

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

Witnessing the plight of those enduring hardship often evokes a profound sense of distress and sorrow. This deep sympathy, coupled with an earnest inclination to alleviate their suffering, is the essence of compassion. Seeing a neighbor lose their home to fire, and feeling an immediate urge to help rebuild, exemplifies this powerful human sentiment.

Witnessing the prolonged, agonizing decline of the bioluminescent coral colonies, a profound sorrow settled upon the xenobotanist. Her heart ached with an overwhelming desire to find a remedy, to ease their silent, shimmering suffering as the encroaching xenofauna devoured their vital phosphorescence.

The prospector, his canteen bone dry and hope eroding like desert sandstone, slumped against a desiccated acacia. A lone traveler, witnessing his evident despair and the gnawing ache of his predicament, felt a profound sorrow and an urgent impetus to share their meager water. This powerful response, this keen concern for another's profound suffering, was indeed compassion.

The beleaguered hamster, Bartholomew, had suffered a catastrophic avocado incident, his tiny paws irrevocably ensnared in the creamy verdure. Observing this peristaltic predilection for guacamole-induced pandemonium, the humans felt a profound sympathy and sorrow, a palpable desire to extricate Bartholomew from his creamy predicament.

Barnaby, a professional pigeon fancier with an argyle addiction, felt profound sorrow for Bartholomew, his prize-winning fantail, who had inadvertently swallowed a thimble. Barnaby's deep sympathy was accompanied by an intense desire to alleviate Bartholomew’s metallic predicament, even if it meant a clandestine raid on the haberdashery for an emesis-inducing elixir.

Difficulty

Normal — Everyday words worth reinforcing.

Appears in

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