SYMPATHETICALLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sympathetically mean? 

• SYMPATHETICALLY (adverb)
  The adverb SYMPATHETICALLY has 2 senses:

1. with respect to the sympathetic nervous system

2. in a sympathetic manner

  Familiarity information: SYMPATHETICALLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SYMPATHETICALLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

With respect to the sympathetic nervous system

Context example:

the stimulus acted sympathetically

Pertainym:

sympathetic (of or relating to the sympathetic nervous system)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a sympathetic manner

Synonyms:

empathetically; sympathetically

Context example:

she listened to him sympathetically

Antonym:

unsympathetically (without sympathy; in an unsympathetic manner)

Pertainym:

sympathetic (expressing or feeling or resulting from sympathy or compassion or friendly fellow feelings; disposed toward)

 Context examples 

“You poor, poor dears,” she cried sympathetically, “why don’t you pull hard?—then you wouldn’t be whipped.”

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Maud saw that I had achieved a solution, and her eyes warmed sympathetically.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Challenger looked at me sympathetically, and shook his great head in mock disapproval.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Kreis seemed to wake up and flash like some metallic, magnetic thing, while Norton looked at Martin sympathetically, with a sweet, girlish smile, as much as to say that he would be amply protected.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She put her hand sympathetically on mine, and said, “You will have to begin over again.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

So Martin did not scorch that, and eased down on his muscular tension, though nervous tension rose higher than ever, and he listened sympathetically to the other's blasphemies as he toiled and suffered over the beautiful things that women wear when they do not have to do their own laundrying.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I beg pardon—Ladies, Gentlemen, and Children—I must apologize, I had inadvertently omitted a considerable section of this audience (tumult, during which the Professor stood with one hand raised and his enormous head nodding sympathetically, as if he were bestowing a pontifical blessing upon the crowd), I have been selected to move a vote of thanks to Mr. Waldron for the very picturesque and imaginative address to which we have just listened.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)