“Sympathize” or “Sympathise”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 6 prefer “sympathize” and 4 prefer “sympathise”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	sympathize	sympathise	Preference
United States	96	4	“sympathize”
United Kingdom	22	78	“sympathise”
India	60	40	“sympathize”
Philippines	97	3	“sympathize”
Canada	85	15	“sympathize”
Australia	22	78	“sympathise”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	29	71	“sympathise”
New Zealand	34	66	“sympathise”
Jamaica	100	0	“sympathize”
Trinidad & Tobago	84	16	“sympathize”
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“sympathize”

…this time, he started to sympathize with rebellious issues and for…
…came to observe his obsequies, sympathize with his bereaved family, and…
…members of the group also sympathize with the Salafi and jihadist…
…only ones with whom I sympathize of the present extant parties."
…asked "which side do you sympathize with more", 42% of Democrats…
…her infidelity, but he does sympathize.
…public at the time:I must sympathize with the Social Democrats, especially…
…of the 1790s, started to sympathize with the ideas of the…
…poll finds 64% of Americans sympathize with Israelis and 12% with
…series, most readers seemed to sympathize with both men.

“sympathise”

…argued, be able to deeply sympathise with prostitutes across the city.
…virtue" in their ability to sympathise with others and should use…
"Please Don't Sympathise" is a song by Scottish…
…thrall boy, who seems to sympathise with him.
…most SPD leaders tended to sympathise with the Mensheviks (although officially…
…citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina sympathise with them".
…but a very few to sympathise with him.
…Chamberlain explained in 1897:We quite sympathise with the determination...of these colonies...that…
…from the outset inclined to sympathise with the underdog, and, according…
8% of sympathisers and 9% of members stated…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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