Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Feeling or showing compassion; sympathetic.
  • adjective Granted to an individual because of an emergency or other unusual circumstances.
  • transitive verb To pity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To have compassion for; pity; commiserate.
  • Characterized by compassion; full of compassion or pity; easily moved to sympathy by the sufferings, wants, or infirmities of others.
  • Calling for or calculated to excite compassion; pitiable; pitiful.
  • Complaining.
  • noun One who compassionates, pities, or commiserates.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having a temper or disposition to pity; sympathetic; merciful.
  • adjective rare Complaining; inviting pity; pitiable.
  • transitive verb To have compassion for; to pity; to commiserate; to sympathize with.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having, feeling of showing compassion; sympathetic.
  • adjective Given to someone because of a domestic emergency.
  • verb archaic To feel compassion for; to pity, feel sorry for.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective showing or having compassion
  • verb share the suffering of

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A pseudo-Latin form of French compassioné, past participle of compassionner ("feel sorry for").

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Examples

  • SOME ON THE RIGHT argue that by putting the word compassionate in front of conservatism, George W. Bush somehow diminished the principles that have animated the conservative movement since at least the rise of Barry Goldwater in 1964.

    COURAGE AND CONSEQUENCE KARL ROVE 2010

  • SOME ON THE RIGHT argue that by putting the word compassionate in front of conservatism, George W. Bush somehow diminished the principles that have animated the conservative movement since at least the rise of Barry Goldwater in 1964.

    COURAGE AND CONSEQUENCE KARL ROVE 2010

  • If I hear one more time the term compassionate conservatism, I will scream.

    John McCain air quotes showed contempt for women's health issues 2008

  • COOPER: Are we going to hear the term compassionate conservative?

    CNN Transcript Mar 1, 2004 2004

  • Psychologist: The term compassionate conservative is an "oxymoron"

    chron.com Chronicle 2010

  • "When the term compassionate conservative was invented, that person had just met Dean."

    Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative thoughtfulconservative 2010

  • "When the term compassionate conservative was invented, that person had just met Dean."

    Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative 2010

  • Is this what they call compassionate conservatism?

    Think Progress » The Bush Record: More Poverty, More Uninsured 2006

  • That's, kind of, the heart of what they call compassionate conservatism: that the American experience must be alive and viable for everyone, and that government has a role to help people have the tools so they can help themselves.

    CNN Transcript Jul 23, 2004 2004

  • PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, President Bush is on his way to Cleveland, as Leon just reported, where he will be making a speech about what he calls compassionate conservatism.

    CNN Transcript Jul 1, 2002 2002

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