Definition

1. Noun:
   • Sympathy, compassion: A feeling of shared understanding, care, or sorrow for the suffering or misfortune of another person. It implies a sense of shared experience or emotional connection.

Usage

• Fellow feeling is an uncountable noun used to describe a deep, empathetic connection with someone else's emotional state, particularly during difficult times. It is a formal or literary term.
• It is typically used in contexts discussing empathy, shared humanity, and compassion.

Examples

• The community showed great fellow feeling for the family who lost their home in the fire.
• There was a genuine fellow feeling among the veterans, as they all understood the challenges of returning to civilian life.
• Her speech was filled with fellow feeling for those struggling with illness.

Advanced Usage

• "A sense of fellow feeling": This phrase is often used to emphasize the conscious awareness or presence of this shared empathy.
  • The tragedy created a powerful sense of fellow feeling across the nation.
• "Fellow feeling for/towards": Used to specify the target of the empathy.
  • He expressed his fellow feeling towards the victims of the injustice.

Variants and Related Words

• Sympathy (n): Feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune. (A very close synonym, more common in modern usage).
• Compassion (n): Sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.
• Empathy (n): The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. (Focuses more on the cognitive understanding of another's state).
• Solidarity (n): Unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest.

Synonyms

• Sympathy
• Compassion
• Empathy
• Understanding
• Commiseration

Related Phrases and Idioms

• "In a spirit of fellow feeling": Acting with shared empathy and compassion.
  • The donation was given in a spirit of fellow feeling.
• "A bond of fellow feeling": A connection formed through shared understanding or suffering.
  • The survivors were united by a strong bond of fellow feeling.

Noun

1. sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish)