Antipathy vs. Sympathy — What's the Difference?
By Fiza Rafique & Urooj Arif — Updated on April 3, 2024
Antipathy denotes a strong feeling of aversion or dislike, whereas sympathy involves understanding and sharing the feelings of another.
Difference Between Antipathy and Sympathy
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Antipathy is characterized by a deep-seated feeling of aversion or hostility towards someone or something, often without needing a rational justification. It's a negative emotional response that leads to avoidance or disdain. Sympathy, in contrast, is the act of sharing or understanding the emotions and experiences of another person, typically feelings of sorrow or hardship, leading to compassion or support.
While antipathy can arise from personal experiences, conflicts, or inherent differences in values or beliefs, leading to strong feelings of dislike or opposition, sympathy emerges from a place of emotional resonance and solidarity, often driving individuals to offer support, comfort, or aid to those experiencing difficulties. The key difference lies in the nature of emotional response: antipathy drives separation and disconnection, whereas sympathy fosters connection and empathy.
Antipathy does not require one to understand or empathize with the target of their feelings; it is a unilateral sentiment that maintains emotional distance. On the other hand, sympathy involves a bidirectional emotional exchange where one not only recognizes the feelings of another but also experiences a sense of shared emotional experience, often leading to acts of kindness or support.
In terms of expression, antipathy can manifest in avoidance, criticism, or hostile actions towards the object of one's aversion. Conversely, sympathy is expressed through compassionate actions, supportive words, and gestures that aim to alleviate the suffering or emotional burden of another. This distinction highlights the contrasting motivations and outcomes associated with each emotion.
Both antipathy and sympathy play significant roles in social interactions and relationships. Antipathy can lead to conflicts, misunderstandings, and a breakdown in communication, whereas sympathy can strengthen bonds, encourage understanding, and promote mutual support within communities or between individuals.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
Strong feeling of aversion or dislike.
Understanding and sharing the feelings of another.
Nature of Response
Negative emotional response leading to avoidance or disdain.
Emotional resonance and solidarity, often leading to compassion.
Emotional Distance
Maintains emotional distance.
Fosters connection and reduces emotional distance.
Manifestation
Avoidance, criticism, hostile actions.
Compassionate actions, supportive words, gestures of comfort.
Role in Relationships
Leads to conflicts and misunderstandings.
Strengthens bonds and promotes mutual support.
Compare with Definitions
Antipathy
Aversion or dislike.
His antipathy towards noise made him avoid crowded places.
Sympathy
Understanding others.
His sympathy for her situation made him offer help.
Antipathy
Emotional distance.
Antipathy kept him from understanding his opponent's views.
Sympathy
Manifested in support.
The community's sympathy was shown through their donations.
Antipathy
Leads to conflict.
The team's antipathy towards the new policy created tension.
Sympathy
Sharing feelings.
She felt deep sympathy for the victims of the disaster.
Antipathy
Manifested in avoidance.
Their antipathy towards each other led to a silent dinner.
Sympathy
Emotional connection.
Their sympathy for each other's grief brought them closer.
Antipathy
Not requiring rationalization.
Her antipathy for spiders was instinctive and strong.
Sympathy
Strengthens relationships.
Sharing their experiences in sympathy strengthened their friendship.
Antipathy
Antipathy is a dislike for something or somebody, the opposite of sympathy. While antipathy may be induced by experience, it sometimes exists without a rational cause-and-effect explanation being present to the individuals involved.Thus, the origin of antipathy has been subject to various philosophical and psychological explanations, which some people find convincing and others regard as highly speculative.
Sympathy
Sympathy is the perception, understanding, and reaction to the distress or need of another life form. According to David Hume, this sympathetic concern is driven by a switch in viewpoint from a personal perspective to the perspective of another group or individual who is in need.
Antipathy
Extreme dislike; aversion or repugnance.
Sympathy
A feeling of pity or sorrow for the distress of another; commiseration.
Antipathy
A feeling of aversion
Longstanding antipathies between two nations.
Sympathy
Often sympathies An expression of such feeling
Offered her sympathies to the mourning family.
Antipathy
Inherent incompatibility or inability to mix
The antipathy between faith and reason.
The antipathy of hydrocarbons and water.
Sympathy
Mutual understanding or feeling between people
"Like two frightened children, we sought at the same time to comfort one another, so quick was the sympathy between us" (Nicholas Meyer).
Antipathy
A feeling of dislike (normally towards someone, less often towards something); repugnance or distaste often without any conscious reasoning.
Sympathy
Agreement with or support for an opinion or position
The mayor is in sympathy with the proposal.
Antipathy
Natural contrariety or incompatibility
Oil and water have antipathy
Sympathy
Often sympathies A tendency to support a position or opinion
A politician of conservative sympathies.
Antipathy
Contrariety or opposition in feeling; settled aversion or dislike; repugnance; distaste.
Inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments to others, are to be avoided.
Sympathy
A relationship or affinity between things in which whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other
"Continuous measurements of ionospheric densities ... showed a variation of noon ionization in sympathy with sunspot activity" (E.V. Appelton).
Antipathy
Natural contrariety; incompatibility; repugnancy of qualities; as, oil and water have antipathy.
A habit is generated of thinking that a natural antipathy exists between hope and reason.
Sympathy
(Physics) A relation between bodies such that vibrations in one body cause sympathetic vibrations in another.
Antipathy
A feeling of intense dislike
Sympathy
(Physiology) A relation between parts or organs by which a disease or disorder in one induces an effect in the other.
Antipathy
The object of a feeling of intense aversion; something to be avoided;
Cats were his greatest antipathy
Sympathy
A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another.
Sympathy
(in plural) The formal expression of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune.
Sympathy
The ability to share the feelings of another.
Sympathy
Inclination to think or feel alike; emotional or intellectual accord; common feeling.
Sympathy
(in plural) Support in the form of shared feelings or opinions.
Sympathy
Feeling of loyalty; tendency towards, agreement with or approval of an opinion or aim; a favorable attitude.
Many people in Hollywood were blacklisted merely because they were suspected of Communist sympathies.
Sympathy
An affinity, association or mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.
Sympathy
Mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it.
Sympathy
(art) Artistic harmony, as of shape or colour in a painting.
Sympathy
Feeling corresponding to that which another feels; the quality of being affected by the affection of another, with feelings correspondent in kind, if not in degree; fellow-feeling.
They saw, but other sight instead - a crowdOf ugly serpents! Horror on them fell,And horrid sympathy.
Sympathy
An agreement of affections or inclinations, or a conformity of natural temperament, which causes persons to be pleased, or in accord, with one another; as, there is perfect sympathy between them.
Sympathy
Kindness of feeling toward one who suffers; pity; commiseration; compassion.
I value myself upon sympathy, I hate and despise myself for envy.
Sympathy
The reciprocal influence exercised by organs or parts on one another, as shown in the effects of a diseased condition of one part on another part or organ, as in the vomiting produced by a tumor of the brain.
Sympathy
A tendency of inanimate things to unite, or to act on each other; as, the sympathy between the loadstone and iron.
Sympathy
Similarity of function, use office, or the like.
The adverb has most sympathy with the verb.
Fault,Acknowledged and deplored, in Adam wroughtCommiseration.
Sympathy
An inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion;
His sympathies were always with the underdog
I knew I could count on his understanding
Sympathy
Sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish)
Sympathy
A relation of affinity or harmony between people; whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other;
The two of them were in close sympathy
Common Curiosities
Is antipathy always obvious to others?
Not always. While some people openly express their antipathy, others may hide it, leading to subtle signs of aversion.
Can you feel antipathy and sympathy for the same person?
It's uncommon, as these emotions are generally directed towards different targets due to their opposing natures.
Does expressing sympathy always require action?
Expression of sympathy doesn't always necessitate action; sometimes, verbal acknowledgment of another's feelings is a powerful form of sympathy.
Is there a physical component to feeling antipathy or sympathy?
Yes, both antipathy and sympathy can trigger physical reactions in the body, such as a stress response to antipathy or a warmth and openness in response to sympathy.
How do online interactions affect expressions of antipathy and sympathy?
Online platforms can amplify both antipathy and sympathy, with anonymity sometimes increasing harshness or distance, while shared stories or experiences can foster widespread sympathy.
How can antipathy affect interpersonal relationships?
Antipathy can lead to conflicts, misunderstandings, and a breakdown in communication.
Can sympathy be learned or enhanced?
Yes, sympathy can be cultivated through experiences that broaden one's understanding of others' feelings, such as reading literature or engaging in empathetic listening.
What is antipathy?
Antipathy is a strong feeling of dislike or aversion towards someone or something.
How does sympathy differ from empathy?
Sympathy involves understanding and sharing feelings, while empathy is the ability to feel exactly what another person is feeling.
How does culture influence expressions of antipathy and sympathy?
Cultural norms and values can significantly shape how openly and in what ways antipathy and sympathy are expressed, with some cultures valuing stoicism and others valuing open emotional expression.
Can animals exhibit antipathy and sympathy?
Animals, especially social animals, can show behaviors that seem to reflect antipathy and sympathy, such as comforting behaviors among elephants or avoidance in domestic pets, though interpreting these as human-like emotions is debated.
How do antipathy and sympathy influence decision-making?
These emotions can heavily influence personal and professional decisions, with antipathy possibly leading to avoidance-based decisions and sympathy to more altruistic choices.
Can sympathy mitigate the effects of antipathy in a conflict?
In some cases, yes. Demonstrating sympathy can reduce tensions and soften negative emotions, potentially leading to conflict resolution.
What role does empathy play in transforming antipathy into sympathy?
Empathy, by allowing an individual to deeply understand and share the feelings of another, can bridge the emotional gap caused by antipathy, potentially transforming it into sympathy through increased understanding and connection.
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Written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
