What is the Difference of the meaning between sympathize and empathize?

Answer 1

Sympathy is something you can feel and express because you've been through the same experiences as the person you are sympathizing with, e.g. I felt sympathy for my friend when her father died as my dad died a few months ago.

Empathy is the ability to imagine what it must be like for someone to be in a difficult situation even though you've never experienced that situation personally, e.g. While my father is still alive, I empathized with my friend whose father died recently.

Answer 2

To sympathize means to understand and express concern or sorrow for someone else's experience. Empathize, on the other hand, involves deeply connecting with and sharing the feelings of another person as if you were experiencing them yourself. Sympathy is more about acknowledging someone else's emotions, while empathy involves feeling those emotions alongside them.