Unsympathetically

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a way that expresses a complete disregard for others' emotions or struggles
2. Performing actions that indicate an absence of warmth or compassion towards someone's plight or feelings
3. Acting in a manner that shows no concern for another's feelings or difficulties

Etymology: "Unsympathetically" is built from "unsympathetic" and the adverb suffix "-ally," so its history is essentially the history of its parts. The root "sympathetic" comes from Greek "sympathēs," meaning "feeling together," from "syn" (together) and "pathos" (feeling, suffering). English took "sympathetic" from that Greek base, and the prefix "un-" (not) was added to form "unsympathetic," meaning lacking fellow-feeling or unwilling to share another's sorrows. The suffix does the grammatical work. "-ally" traces back through Middle English "-ally" and Old French "-el" to Latin "-ālis," a suffix that forms adjectives, and the Germanic "-līke" ending (from "lic," meaning body or form, as in "likely" and "lovely") was also woven into this family of endings. Adding "-ally" to an adjective ending in "-ic" turns it into an adverb describing how something is done.

Antonyms: sympathetically