commiseration

See also: commisération

English

Etymology

From Middle French commisération.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

commiseration (countable and uncountable, plural commiserations)

1. The act of commiserating; sorrow for the hardships or afflictions of another; pity; compassion.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 197:

     But her assertion soon proved its truth. That very evening I met both the Duc de Joyeuse and Mademoiselle Guerchy;—a slight embarrassment on his part, a little air of triumphant impertinence on hers, and an affected but insolent commiseration from Mademoiselle de Guise, told the whole.

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     The departure was not unduly prolonged. […] Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity.

Translations

act of commiserating

• Bulgarian: съчувствие (bg) (sǎčuvstvie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 怜悯 (zh) (liánmǐn), 同情 (zh) (tóngqíng)

• Dutch: medelijden (nl) n, medeleven (nl) n
• French: commisération (fr) f
• Galician: conmiseración (gl) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Mitleid (de) n, Mitgefühl (de) n
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: medynk m, medlitenhet m or f

• Polish: litość (pl) f, współczucie (pl) n, żal (pl) m
• Romanian: compătimire (ro) f, compasiune (ro) f, comizerație (ro) f
• Spanish: conmiseración (es) f
• Swedish: medlidande (sv) n

Anagrams

• antimicrosome