1. Expressing or feeling or resulting from sympathy or compassion or friendly fellow feelings; disposed toward
   "a sympathetic gesture"; "sympathetic to the students' cause"; "a sympathetic observer"
    
2. (physiology) of or relating to the sympathetic nervous system
   "sympathetic neurons"; "sympathetic stimulation"
    
3. Showing or motivated by sympathy, understanding, and generosity
   "sympathetic words";
   - charitable, benevolent, kindly, good-hearted, openhearted, large-hearted
    
4. (of characters in literature or drama) evoking empathic or sympathetic feelings
   "the sympathetic characters in the play";
   - appealing, likeable, likable
    
5. Having similar disposition and tastes
   "with their many similar tastes, he found her a most sympathetic companion"
    
6. Relating to vibrations that occur as a result of vibrations in a nearby body
   "sympathetic vibration";
   - harmonic

See also: commiserative, compassionate, condolatory, condolent, congenial, empathetic, empathic, harmonious, kind, similar

Antonym: unsympathetic

Encyclopedia: Sympathetic