Commiserate means to show or feel sympathy with someone when something unpleasant or disappointing has happened to them.

Basic meaning

  • To commiserate is to:
    • Feel or express sorrow or compassion for someone.
* Show sympathy when they experience something bad or upsetting.
  • It is often used with “with”:
    • “I called to commiserate with her after she lost her job.”

How it’s used in sentences

  • “Friends called to commiserate when they heard he had to cancel the trip.”
  • “The players commiserated over their loss in the championship game.”

Extra nuance

  • The word often suggests sharing the other person’s feelings rather than trying to “fix” the situation. You are essentially saying, “I feel for you” and sometimes “I’m in this with you.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.