Meaning & use
deep sympathy
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Meanings
phraseuncountable
A strong feeling of sadness for someone who is suffering or has had something bad happen to them.
Grammar: Used as an uncountable noun phrase; do not put 'a' or a plural before it.
Patterns
- deep sympathy for someone
- have deep sympathy for someone
- express deep sympathy
We felt deep sympathy for the family after the fire.
She wrote to express her deep sympathy for his loss.
His deep sympathy for the victims was clear in every word he spoke.
phraseuncountable
A serious feeling of agreement with someone's trouble or point of view.
Grammar: Often followed by 'for' or 'with' when it points to the person or idea you support.
Patterns
- deep sympathy with someone
- deep sympathy for a cause
The workers' deep sympathy with the strikers surprised the managers.
He has deep sympathy for anyone fighting an unfair rule.
Common combinations
- express deep sympathy
- The mayor expressed deep sympathy to the families of the missing sailors.
- deep sympathy for someone
- I have deep sympathy for anyone who loses a parent young.
- offer your deep sympathy
- Please offer my deep sympathy to your brother at this difficult time.
- a message of deep sympathy
- Her card was a simple message of deep sympathy.
- feel deep sympathy
- We all felt deep sympathy when we heard the news.
Synonyms and how they differ
- compassion
- Compassion stresses wanting to help, while deep sympathy is mainly about sharing the sadness.
- pity
- Pity can sound a little superior, but deep sympathy is respectful and equal.
- condolences
- Condolences is the usual formal word said to a bereaved person, whereas deep sympathy is a more general phrase.
Opposites
Word family
- sympathetic adjective
- Showing that you understand and care about someone's trouble.
- sympathize verb
- To say that you are sorry about someone's problem or agree with their feelings.
- sympathetically adverb
- In a way that shows care and understanding.
Commonly confused: deep sympathy or empathy?
deep sympathy vs empathy
Empathy means you can imagine and share another person's feelings from inside; deep sympathy is more about feeling sorry for them.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'deep sympathy' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Deep sympathy' is uncountable and commonly takes 'for' before the person or group: deep sympathy for the survivors. Option A wrongly makes it plural with 'a', option C uses 'of' instead of 'for', and option D needs 'to' or 'for', not 'at'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “deep sympathy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.