ˌfellow-ˈfeeling, vbl. n.
[See fellow n. 13; a rendering of L. compassio, Gr. συµπάθεια sympathy.]
1. Participation in the feelings of others; sympathy.
| 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3) Compassion, pittie, fellow⁓feeling. 1623 Rowlandson God's Bless. 62 Men of other callings should have a fellow-feeling of those miseries. 1690 Earl of Melfort in Ellis' Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. No. 384 IV. 190 There is not such a thing as fellow-feeling (the presbyterian word). a 1716 Bp. O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. 70 Mercy, properly speaking, is an Affection of the Mind..'tis a fellow⁓feeling of another's Sufferings. 1818 Hazlitt Eng. Poets ii. (1870) 52 Inanimate objects..have a fellow-feeling in the interest of the story. 1857 W. Collins Dead Secret ii. i. (1861) 37, I have a fellow-feeling for others who are like me. |
2. Sense of community of interest.
| 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull i. x, Even your milk woman and your nursery maid have a fellow-feeling. 1755 Johnson, Fellow-feeling, combination, joint interest; commonly in an ill sense. [This is no longer correct.] 1809 Byron Bards & Rev. xiv, A fellow-feeling makes us wond'rous kind. |