commiserate

English

WOTD – 18 February 2012

Etymology 1

From commiserātus, the perfect passive participle of commiseror.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kəmĭʹzərət, IPA^(key): /kəˈmɪzəɹət/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

commiserate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete, rare) commiserating, pitying, lamentful
   • 1593: Thomas Nashe, Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem, page 157 (1815 edited republication)

     In the time of Gregory Nazianzene, if we may credit ecclesiastical records, there sprung up the direfulest mortality in Rome that mankind hath been acquainted with; scarce able were the living to bury the dead, and not so much but their streets were digged up for graves, which this holy Father (with no little commiserate heart-bleeding) beholding, commanded all the clergy (for he was at that time their chief bishop) to assemble in prayer and supplications, and deal forcingly beseeching with God, to intermit his fury and forgive them.

References

• “†coˈmmiserate, ppl. a.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

Etymology 2

Modelled upon commiserāt-, the perfect passive participial stem of the Latin commiseror.

Alternative forms

• comiserat (obsolete)
• comiserate (obsolete spelling and modern misspelling)
• comisserate (obsolete spelling and modern misspelling)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kəmĭʹzərāt, IPA^(key): /kəˈmɪzəɹeɪt/

Verb

commiserate (third-person singular simple present commiserates, present participle commiserating, simple past and past participle commiserated)

1. (transitive) To feel or express compassion or sympathy for (someone or something).

   A few individuals who commiserated the unhappy condition of British negro slaves.

   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 160:

     Lord Meersbrook had remarked the same woman a day or two before, peering into the area, as if looking for some of the servants, yet neither venturing to ring nor knock; he concluded she was there for no good, but the self-commiserating tone in which she spoke, together with her Irish accent, now caught his ear;...

2. (intransitive, as the phrasal verb commiserate with) To sympathize; condole.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To offer condolences jointly with; express sympathy with. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• commiserating, commiseratingly
• commiseration
• dot-commiserate

Translations

to feel or express compassion or sympathy

• Bulgarian: съчувствам (sǎčuvstvam)
• Finnish: ottaa osaa (fi)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: commiserare (it), compatire (it)
• Norwegian: kondolere
• Russian: сочу́вствовать (ru) impf (sočúvstvovatʹ), соболе́зновать (ru) impf (soboléznovatʹ)
• Ukrainian: співчувати (spivčuvaty)

to sympathize, condole

• Finnish: ottaa osaa (fi)

to offer condolences

• Finnish: ottaa osaa (fi)
• Korean: (화가 났거나 실망한 사람에게) 위로를 표하다 ((hwaga natgeona silmanghan saramege) wiroreul pyohada)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} compatir (fr)

References

• “commiserate, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

Related terms

• misery

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

commiserate

1. inflection of commiserare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

commiserate f pl

1. feminine plural of commiserato

Anagrams

• ammoscirete, esercitammo

Latin

Participle

commiserāte

1. vocative masculine singular of commiserātus