Meaning & use
condole
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Meaning
verbintransitive
To tell someone that you share their sadness after a loss, usually a death.
Grammar: No object, and followed by with: condole with the family.
Patterns
- condole with someone
- condole with someone on something
- condole with someone over something
The mayor visited the family to condole with them.
We wrote to condole with her on the death of her father.
Neighbors came to condole with the widow.
Word forms
| third person singular | condoles |
|---|---|
| past tense | condoled |
| past participle | condoled |
| -ing form | condoling |
Common combinations
- condole with the family
- Friends gathered to condole with the family.
- condole with someone on a loss
- I wrote to condole with him on the loss of his brother.
- condole with a friend
- She called to condole with a friend after the funeral.
- come to condole
- Colleagues came to condole at the funeral.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sympathize
- Sympathize is more general and can be used for any trouble, not only death.
- commiserate
- Commiserate is used for shared disappointment, like losing a game, and is lighter than condole.
- console
- Console means to comfort someone, while condole means to express sorrow for their loss.
- offer condolences
- This phrase is the usual modern way to say condole and sounds natural in speech.
Opposites
Word family
- condolence noun
- an expression of sympathy, usually plural
- condolences noun
- the plural form, as in offer my condolences
- dolorous adjective
- sad, from the same Latin root meaning grief
Commonly confused: condole or console? condole or condone?
condole vs console
Console means to try to comfort a sad person, whereas condole means to express sympathy over a loss.
condole vs condone
Condone means to accept or overlook bad behavior. It has nothing to do with sympathy.
Practice
Hundreds of fans wrote letters to ___ with the singer's family after his death.
Choose one answer.
Condole with is the fixed pattern for expressing sympathy. Console does not take with in this way, condone means accept, and congratulate is for good news.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “condole”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.