How to Use sympathetic in a Sentence

sympathetic

1 of 2 adjective
Definition of sympatheticnext
Synonyms for sympatheticnext
  • I didn't find the hero in the movie very sympathetic.
  • He received much help from sympathetic friends.
  • Weiss is hinting at a change of venue, which means the plan is to try again with a more sympathetic judge.
    — Harold Maass, The Week, 15 Aug. 2023
  • There are images of war from the point of view of a child, and sympathetic characters die.
    — Common Sense Media, Washington Post, 18 Aug. 2023
  • Rather than being sympathetic, my mom cut off all my hair that went down to my waist to up past my ears.
    — Annie Lane, oregonlive, 11 Mar. 2023
  • With a smart aleck’s wit and a knack for clear-eyed lyrics, the Brooklyn singer is a sympathetic narrator.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 5 May 2023
  • Last year, a big company bought the house from the sympathetic landlord.
    — Aidan Gardiner, New York Times, 18 July 2023
  • That’s much more sympathetic than just being a mean old witch.
    — Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Oct. 2023
  • For many, access to a sympathetic ear is a key support.
    — Jingnan Peng, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Aug. 2023
  • Yu will have to make a sympathetic case to the U.S. government to show why his cousin should be allowed to enter the country.
    — Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 2024
  • Though sympathetic to the cause, Ms. Levine, who lives in the Bronx, never attended.
    — Marc Tracy, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Shouldn’t this person talk to you with a sympathetic ear or feign concern?
    — Yadi Rodriguez, cleveland, 1 Aug. 2023
  • Other times a sympathetic ear or a hopeful hint about where her son might be.
    — Sara Sidner, CNN, 14 May 2023
  • Rarely has a fine old building’s airspace been used to such sympathetic effect.
    — Justin Davidson, Curbed, 3 Aug. 2023
  • Filing a case there improves the odds of getting it in front of a sympathetic judge but doesn’t guarantee it.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 2023
  • His plain hope is that the current Court will be sympathetic to Scalia’s reasoning.
    — Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2024
  • In the driver’s seat is Richard Rivera, a firefighter who grew sympathetic to the writers’ cause through his friendship with Fontana.
    — Travis M. Andrews, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2023
  • That bodes ill for both Russ and sympathetic teacher Joyce (Betty Gabriel).
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 18 Sep. 2023
  • In his words, the lyrics are meant to be sympathetic, but as the episode recounts, there’s a problematic element to how the story is framed.
    — Juan J. Arroyo, Rolling Stone, 12 Apr. 2023
  • The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which has been sympathetic to Putin, has surged in the polls.
    — Ben Miller, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2023
  • The chapter and verse of his record is not sympathetic reading, though his mother, 67, tries to understand.
    — Neal Rubin, Detroit Free Press, 3 Mar. 2024
  • That is, that if the party got raucous, you would have been invited or at least forewarned and therefore more sympathetic to the noise.
    — Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin, oregonlive, 31 Mar. 2023
  • As the 2024 election looms — and with the chance of someone even less sympathetic to their claims entering the Oval Office — death row inmates know the clock is ticking.
    — Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2023
  • The tone of the meeting, according to the suit, was not favorable toward Williams but more sympathetic toward Budek.
    — Antonio Planas, NBC News, 23 Mar. 2023
  • The world is full of people in need, and Miss Manners commends your sympathetic attitude.
    — Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 2 May 2023
  • While some locals are sympathetic to the plight of migrants, others are aghast at the prospect of the arrival of tens of thousands of mostly young men from Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia.
    — Nick Squires, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 Dec. 2023
  • But others were a bit less sympathetic and took issue with the fact that Stoller’s yard was artificial.
    — Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2023
  • During the bill's first public hearing in the state Senate on Wednesday, many Democrats were sympathetic to drivers hit by price spikes.
    — Adam Beam, ajc, 23 Feb. 2023
  • Broadly speaking, Democrats have become more sympathetic to the Palestinians compared with the Israelis in the last two decades, Gallup polling has found.
    — Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, ABC News, 28 Nov. 2023
  • There has also been criticism that DiCaprio’s Ernest was made to seem overly sympathetic, and shouldn’t have been the film’s main focus.
    — James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Nov. 2023
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sympathetic

2 of 2 noun
  • The task of making a heinous character sympathetic is the real work of many novels.
    — New York Times, 24 Mar. 2021
  • His pants were cut at the knee by a fellow Olympian sympathetic to his less than ideal racing uniform.
    — Outside Online, 29 July 2021
  • But even those of us sympathetic to the movement could understand it better.
    — Star Tribune, 11 July 2021
  • Al Jazeera is funded by Qatar, which is close to Ennahda and sympathetic to Islamist groups.
    — Washington Post, 27 July 2021
  • All of the creatures in this world are multifaceted, with designs that can shift from frightening to sympathetic.
    — Diana Hubbell, Wired, 22 Mar. 2021
  • But deans and chairs must appoint a faculty hiring committee sympathetic to the aims of the benefactor.
    — Michael Poliakoff, Forbes, 12 Apr. 2022
  • Hollingsworth said in the video her financial setbacks make her sympathetic to Marylanders facing the same challenges.
    — Pamela Wood, baltimoresun.com, 8 Feb. 2022
  • Another question is being asked by some of those sympathetic to Johnson but concerned for him: Who is looking out for him?
    — Tom McTague, The Atlantic, 6 Oct. 2020
  • Trump argued that families are trained to play sympathetic to get asylum.
    — Jaclyn Peiser, Anchorage Daily News, 2 Oct. 2020
  • Ninidze makes Penkovsky sympathetic and, much harder to do, plausible.
    — Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Mar. 2021
  • Gary Kiedaisch, a commissioner sympathetic to their cause, quit too.
    — Adam Drapcho, BostonGlobe.com, 27 July 2022
  • But within police departments, there often is a very different view, even among those sympathetic to calls for reform and the need to curb excessive force.
    — Griff Witte, Nick Miroff, Anchorage Daily News, 11 June 2020
  • The arrest set off a small riot among the city’s European residents, who were angry at the arrest of a passenger on a French ship (and very likely sympathetic to the Confederate cause).
    — Graham Cornwell, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 May 2021
  • Taylor got a lot of sympathetic — and empathetic — messages, but no solid leads.
    — Kate Santich, orlandosentinel.com, 10 Dec. 2021
  • And the head of Germany's navy was forced to resign after comments sympathetic to Russia in a drama that suggested an effort to cover-up deep divisions within the West about how to handle Putin.
    — Stephen Collinson, CNN, 24 Jan. 2022
  • That victory – the first ever for an Amazon facility in the United States – came as a surprise even to those sympathetic to the union’s calls for a $30 hourly wage and better working conditions for warehouse workers.
    — Haleluya Hadero, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Oct. 2022
  • Wanda is watching Malcolm in the Middle when Vision interrupts to offer her a sympathetic (if synthetic) ear.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 26 Feb. 2021
  • Rachel Berry, a sympathetic, but egotistical heroine who strove to be in the spotlight, notoriously made her life goal to play Fanny Brice on Broadway, an arc which was prominently part of the show's plotline for many seasons.
    — Wilson Wong, NBC News, 12 July 2022
  • Skinner is far more winning and sympathetic in his underdog role, while Lumley, despite her brash efforts, is not well-served by her underdeveloped part.
    — Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2021
  • Russian yachts being seized across Europe as nations sympathetic to Ukraine's plight press sanctions that include impounding assets of Russia's wealthy class.
    — Editors, USA TODAY, 13 Mar. 2022
  • Tired of Haitian resistance, the Americans installed Louis Borno, a savvy politician sympathetic to the occupation, as president.
    — New York Times, 20 May 2022
  • This prompted an ugly riot, and Mr. Trump posted material to his social-media accounts sounding sympathetic to the mob while also telling rioters to stand down.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 5 May 2021
  • Agudath Israel is appealing the case to the Supreme Court, which gained a jurist sympathetic to religious liberty arguments when Barrett was appointed.
    — Shira Hanau, sun-sentinel.com, 18 Nov. 2020
  • Luckily, there are some signs that the American people are more-or-less sympathetic with President Biden's argument that withdrawal was a painful necessity.
    — Ryan Cooper, The Week, 21 Aug. 2021
  • Overbreathing activates your sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nervous system, which, in turn, activates your stress response and engages rapid, shallow breathing.
    — Dana Santas, CNN, 7 July 2021
  • But the show never really conveys her beliefs — one of many soft-pedalings from creator Robbie Pickering to render his protagonist sympathetic.
    — Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2022
  • For instance, accounts sympathetic to Diana at the time stressed her despair over Charles’s infidelity while conveniently eliding her own adulterous adventures.
    — Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2020
  • It’s not easy to make such a bureaucratic monster sympathetic, but by plumbing Zeiger’s existential crisis, Hofmann manages to reach his essential humanity.
    — Ron Charles, Washington Post, 4 Aug. 2020
  • Those who are considerate, warm, and sympathetic are more likely to build collaborative relationships and be strong in relationship building, a competency that helps establish bonds and trust across distance.
    — Tomoko Yokoi, Quartz at Work, 17 June 2020
  • Kashmiri militants sympathetic to Pakistan have continued to carry out attacks against Indian civilians and soldiers.
    — Washington Post, 29 Oct. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sympathetic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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