Empathist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual who deeply perceives and relates to others' emotions and feelings
2. Someone with a profound capability to resonate with the emotional experiences of those around them
3. A person who can intuitively sense and feel the emotions of others around them

Etymology: "Empathist" is a simple formation: the noun "empathy" with the suffix "-ist," which marks a person who practises or holds to something. Here the sense is someone who perceives or shares the feelings of others, so the word names a person as a practitioner of empathy. The base word has a more striking history than the suffix. "Empathy" was coined in English in the early twentieth century as a translation of the German "Einfühlung," meaning "feeling into," a term from aesthetics used for how viewers project themselves into a painting or a building. English borrowed the idea in that psychological and aesthetic sense before the word broadened to everyday emotional understanding. Because "-ist" attaches so readily to abstract nouns, "empathist" follows the pattern of words like "hedonist" or "moralist." It is a transparent coinage, and its meaning can be read straight from its parts.

Synonyms: empathetic person, sympathizer, understander, compassionate person, sensitive person

Antonyms: apathetic, indifferent, insensitive, callous, unfeeling