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If someone’s cat dies, you might feel sympathy for them. If someone’s cat dies just months after
your cat has died, your feelings might be better described as empathetic. In other words,
sympathy often refers to pity or a similar emotion that you feel for someone, while
empathy more closely relates to the ability to put yourself right in someone else’s shoes. But that’s only one interpretation of the difference between the two words and you could even argue that the way people use
empathy today is basically how
sympathy has been used for centuries.