commiserate means commiserating, pitying, lamentful. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 83 out of 100.
Why this word is great
COMMISERATE — [Verb] To express or feel sympathy or sorrow for another's misfortune. From Latin commiserārī, from com- ("together with") and miserārī ("to pity, lament"). Unlike console, which aims to lift one from grief, or empathize, which spans the full emotional spectrum, to commiserate is to deliberately descend into the shared mire of a setback. It is the weary clink of glasses after a shared failure, the mutual grimace over a steaming, too-bitter cup of coffee, the companionable slump of shoulders after receiving identical bad news—a small, secular communion that briefly halves the weight of a private woe.
adj
- Commiserating, pitying, lamentful.“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 ”
verb
- To feel or express compassion or sympathy for (someone or something).“A few individuals who commiserated the unhappy condition of British negro slaves.”
- To sympathize; condole.
- To offer condolences jointly with; express sympathy with.