Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to feel someone's pain

to feel someone's pain

1 5.5
To understand and share someone's sadness when they are having a hard time
  • idiom
translation icon : sentir el dolor de alguien
  • This allows us to feel the other person's distress or pain as our own.

Examples

Synonyms

to sympathize
vsto feel someone's pain
96 3.5

To feel or show care and understanding for someone who is unhappy

goes deeper by truly sharing inner distress instead of outward compassion
to feel for
vsto feel someone's pain
83 3.0

Have sympathy for someone who is suffering

shares their feelings more deeply rather than just showing sympathy
to empathize
vsto feel someone's pain
  • US
48 4.9

To understand and share another person's feelings by imagining what they feel

focuses specifically on deep sharing of suffering or distress rather than any feeling
to sympathize with
vsto feel someone's pain
44 3.4

To feel sorry for someone and understand their pain

emphasizes a deeper, more inward sharing of another's suffering
to feel your pain
vsto feel someone's pain
20 6.8

To understand when someone is having a hard time and show you care

shares the other's feelings directly instead of just feeling personal pain
to commiserate
vsto feel someone's pain
15 7.0

To feel or show sympathy for someone who is suffering

shares the person's suffering inwardly instead of only expressing sympathy
to have a heart for
vsto feel someone's pain
1 3.9

To care about someone or something and want to help them

focuses on sharing inner distress, not on offering help or support
to heart bleed
vsto feel someone's pain
  • Informal
1 7.6

To feel deep sadness and pity for someone who is suffering

shares the other's feelings rather than suffering personally for them

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

to disregard
119 3.9

Ignore something or someone on purpose

How Empathetic

to feel someone's pain
1 5.5
to sympathize
96 3.5
pitying
1 3.9

Surface Forms

feel someone's pain infinitive
feeling someone's pain present participle
feels someone's pain third person singular
felt someone's pain past
felt someone's pain past participle

Morphology

feel + someone's + pain

The meaning 'to empathize deeply with someone's suffering' is directly derivable from combining 'feel' (to experience) with 'someone's' (possessive) and 'pain' (suffering); it literally means to experience another person's pain. This compositional pattern is common across languages and follows regular English grammar, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand it.

Etymology

The idiom feel someone's pain comes from the clear image of placing your hand where a person is hurt so you can feel their pain with them. So, it means 'to understand and share someone's suffering'.