Make Your Point > Archived Issues > COMMISERATE

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pronounce COMMISERATE: Say it "kuh MIZZ uh rate." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: I first heard the word commiserate in the pop song "All the Small Things" by Blink-182:    Always I know    You'll be at my show    Watching, waiting    Commiserating Blink-182's nasal, whining vocals are totally appropriate for this word: to commiserate is to express pity, to show sympathy. However, don't click through to that music video unless you're ready for 1999's weirdest visuals. Cannot unsee! If you clicked anyway and saw some disturbing stuff, I commiserate with you. I only hope that you're not dis______ate: so miserable that no amount of commiseration will console you. Can you recall that word with the blanks? Like today's word commiserate, it has a word tucked right inside it that clarifies its meaning. Just pluck off the prefix and the suffix, and it all makes sense. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) definition: In Latin, miser means "unhappy, or pitiable." You see miser in words like "misery," "miserable," and today's "commiserate." To commiserate is to show pity or sympathy to someone, usually in words. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Verb, usually the intransitive kind: "They're commiserating with her." Other forms:  The common ones are "commiserated," "commiserating," and "commiseration." People and things that deserve our sympathy and compassion are "commiserable." And sympathetic, compassionate people and things are "commiserant" or "commiserative." Commiserative people say and do things "commiseratively," and you can call them "commiserators." how to use it: This word is formal and semi-common. We say that someone commiserates with someone else. But we can leave out the with if it's clear who's doing the commiserating with whom: "She texted me to commiserate." "Family members gathered in the waiting room, worrying and commiserating." And often we commiserate over or about some sad or stressful thing. If you have trouble spelling this word, I commiserate with you! Try visualizing the word "misery" inside it. Don't double that "s" inside "misery," but do double the "m" to snap the prefix neatly into place: commiserate. examples: "During finals week, many campus libraries stay open 24 hours a day, and numerous students commiserate over the intensity of their last-minute cram sessions."    — Brian Witte, Time, 12 May 2015 "[Ariana Grande,] who like [Miley Cyrus] is 21, had been called a diva and was upset about it. So she called another really famous pop star to commiserate and ask for advice."    — Tim Teeman, Daily Beast, 14 April 2017 has this page helped you understand "commiserate"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "commiserate" without saying "sympathize with" or "express condolences." try it out: You've probably heard that "a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved." Do you find that to be true? That is, do your pains and worries ease up significantly when someone commiserates with you about them? If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game for March is "Yup, that's a real word." Check out the definition of a silly-sounding word--yes, a real one, from the Oxford English Dictionary--and see if you can come up with the word itself. To see the answer, scroll all the way down. Here's an example: "This three-syllable noun ending in the -ship suffix (as in 'friendship' and 'fellowship') means 'skill in traversing snow.'" The answer is "snowmanship." (Yup, that’s a real word!) Try this one today: You're probably a logophile like me (a word-lover), and so you might know this disgusting-sounding four-syllable noun meaning "a spewing forth of way too many words." review this word: 1. The opposite of COMMISERATE might be A. STRIVE or KEEP IT UP. B. CRITICIZE or RUB IT IN. C. ALLEVIATE or MAKE IT BETTER. 2. An Instagrammer wrote: "A palm tree, secret lights, heavy rain and mist at 6 AM. Once again, nature offers a commiseration prize for my _____ eyeballs." A. earth-adoring B. awake-all-​night C. happy-tear-filled Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. B Answer to the game question: Logorrhea. Yughgh! a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.