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sympathetic

Sympathetic usually means ‘sharing somebody’s feelings’ or ‘sorry for somebody who is in trouble’.

  • I’m sympathetic towards the strikers.
  • She’s always very sympathetic when people feel ill.

Sympathetic is a ‘false friend’ for speakers of certain languages. It does not usually mean the same as, for example, sympatyczny, sympathisch, sympatisk or simpático.

  • The people in my class are all very nice / pleasant / easy to get along with. (not … are all very sympathetic.)