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#219342 12/01/14 05:25 PM
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Is there a word for viewing sorrow?
I seem to recall one, but for the life of me, am unable to remember what it is.

Empathy is the ability to emotionally relate, so it is not that one.
Sympathy is basically the same thing; yet both words are an emotional connection.

I am looking for the word that simply describes the act of viewing sorrow.

Thank you guys.

Sorry I have been a stranger for so long.


Rev. Alimae
AlimaeHP #219343 12/01/14 05:47 PM
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Pity ???


----please, draw me a sheep----
AlimaeHP #219344 12/01/14 08:21 PM
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Nay, again, Pity is an emotion. I am seeking the word that does describe the act.n Though I do thank you.


Rev. Alimae
AlimaeHP #219345 12/01/14 09:50 PM
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er No. LOL


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AlimaeHP #219348 12/01/14 10:06 PM
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Uh?
I get it, pity is not the word you want.


----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #219351 12/02/14 12:35 AM
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Originally Posted By: LukeJavan8
Uh?
I get it, pity is not the word you want.


I am sorry for not being clear. I accidentally said Nay instead of No. I should have just edited the post. I do apologize for the confusion.


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AlimaeHP #219380 12/04/14 03:41 AM
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Hello AlimaeHP from long time ago. There is a word that comes close to what you might mean, but not directly in connection with the verb 'view'. I doubt if there are single words that express viewing whatsoever anything at all. Commiserate may be a synonym of empathy but more specifically focussed on sorrow, misery. I hope you regained your health and would like to wish all old friends a good december season. But...the lot of them it seems have (or is it has?) left this place for good.

commiserate
v.tr.
To feel or express sorrow or pity for; sympathize with.
v.intr.
To feel or express sympathy: commiserated over their failure.

Last edited by BranShea; 12/04/14 03:46 AM.
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Alimae, BranShea, nice to hear your fingertaps again ! [warmsmile -e]

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Commiserate is very close indeed. The only issue that I do have, is that the word does, yet again, deal with empathy. I am seeking the word that describes the act of viewing or seeing sorrow, and not the actual emotional connection.

Bran, it has been a very long time. Far to long. Sadly that of my health has not improved; nor will it this lifetime. Either way, I am as well as can be expected and finding joy in life.
May your Holiday's find you in joy.

Wofaholicodoc, it is a delight to see your finger-taps in turn. [smiles of warmth]


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Commiserate is very close indeed. The only issue that I do have, is that the word does, yet again, deal with empathy. I am seeking the word that describes the act of viewing or seeing sorrow, and not the actual emotional connection.

It's the "amanuensis" function: to see, to register, to note, perhaps to record or to report, but not to sympathize or approve or judge, or indeed to respond in any way. Sorrow or joy or anything else is an independent dimension.

Robert Heinlein embodied it as Anne, the Fair Witness, in Stranger in a Strange Land. Neal Stephenson invoked it tangentially about three-quarters of the way through Anathem. I don't know that there's a single word for it.

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