What's the difference between commiseration and sorrow?

Commiseration


Definition:

  • (n.) The act of commiserating; sorrow for the wants, afflictions, or distresses of another; pity; compassion.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) When I commiserate about the overnight flight that brought them here, Linney gives a wry grimace.
  • (2) Commiserations to the Dutch, but they didn't really turn up tonight, and were very poor.
  • (3) Why not come and celebrate or commiserate with a dip in the pool?
  • (4) With such knowledge comes a predictable illusion of power, though this is all too regularly punctured by the indignity of being kicked out of shiny receptions and told to use an entrance more befitting of our lowly status – or of having my pronunciation of “Southwark Street” incorrectly corrected by a receptionist, who gives her colleague a sidelong smirk, commiserating over my supposed ignorance.
  • (5) "The president commiserates with all the families who lost loved ones in the heinous attacks and extends his heartfelt sympathies to all those who suffered injuries or lost their properties during the wanton assaults on Bauchi and Kaduna States," said a statement.
  • (6) Putin thanked leaders of other countries for their commiseration, the Kremlin press service announced.
  • (7) Blair texted him with "commiserations" as did Brown, Coulson revealed.
  • (8) The deputy prime minister took the opportunity to claim that the first person to call Coulson to commiserate on his resignation was Labour former prime minister Gordon Brown.
  • (9) But while the arrival of the baby in question will be a cause for celebration for the parents, it is a matter for commiseration for the rest of us.
  • (10) When David Cameron phoned Ed Miliband on Monday morning with a briefing on Libya they commiserated with each other about being in the doghouse with their families for having broken off their holidays.
  • (11) Liquidation looks likely as MPs go home to commiserate with their local fallen councillors, and the Lib Dems overtake Labour.
  • (12) Even as Netanyahu took credit for the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit , welcoming him home in person at Tel Nof airbase, he was offering heartfelt commiserations to the relatives of Israelis killed by the Palestinian prisoners he freed in exchange.
  • (13) Instead, Boehner has offered McConnell not compromise but commiserations.
  • (14) Within seconds Bouchard was offering commiserations at the net.
  • (15) Richard Dawkins Oxford • I would like to congratulate Sarah Olney on becoming our new MP in Richmond Park, and give my commiserations to Zac Goldsmith.
  • (16) My trip back to commiserate with loved ones can wait a few weeks.
  • (17) ‘I’m sorry for my role as an adult’ The Seattle Resistance Salon was created partly to find others to commiserate with.
  • (18) Well done to everyone who got the results they wanted today, and commiserations to those that didn't.
  • (19) Asked to offer commiserations, Pellegrini said: “It is a pity for them.
  • (20) Mahmoud Muhim, the father of one of the dead protesters, took the microphone during the march and said: "Not one person has offered me commiserations.

Sorrow


Definition:

  • (n.) The uneasiness or pain of mind which is produced by the loss of any good, real or supposed, or by diseappointment in the expectation of good; grief at having suffered or occasioned evil; regret; unhappiness; sadness.
  • (n.) To feel pain of mind in consequence of evil experienced, feared, or done; to grieve; to be sad; to be sorry.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It came in a mix of joy and sorrow and brilliance under pressure, with one of the most remarkable things you will ever see on a basketball court in the biggest moment.
  • (2) Troh, a 54-year-old nursing assistant, issued a statement on Wednesday that said: “I trust a thorough examination will take place regarding all aspects of his care … I am now dealing with the sorrow and anger that his son was not able to see him before he died.” That appeared to be a reference to frustration at the hospital’s initial failure to diagnose him correctly, and a delay of several days before they treated him with experimental drugs.
  • (3) Goodman deceived us all, the witnesses sorrowfully admitted.
  • (4) Photograph: AP This is the moment of our deepest sorrow.
  • (5) Separately, in a Question Time-style debate at the Radio Festival today, Ofcom executive Stewart Purvis said he reacted "more in sorrow than anger" at yesterday's stinging attack on the regulator by former GMG Radio chief executive John Myers .
  • (6) 'This is not the justice we seek': sorrow in Baltimore as grief turns into riots Read more The city has improved significantly in recent years – crime dropped, the economy improved, the population stopped declining for the first time in 60 years – but you couldn’t see Baltimore’s newfound prosperity in Freddie Gray’s backyard, or in the gardens nearby.
  • (7) But at this moment of the final parting, my heart is heavy with sorrow and grief.” On death: “There is an end to everything and I want mine to come as quickly and painlessly as possible, not with me incapacitated, half in coma in bed and with a tube going into my nostrils and down to my stomach.” “Even from my sickbed, even if you are going to lower me to the grave and I feel that something is going wrong, I will get up.
  • (8) Time to listen to ‘World in Motion’ on loop while drowning a million sweet sorrows.
  • (9) Shara Proctor, who might have had hopes of gold while Okagbare busied herself with the 200m, managed only two steps of a run-up before clutching at her left thigh and leaving the arena with her hoodie pulled sorrowfully around her face.
  • (10) Prayer has comforted us in sorrow, and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead.
  • (11) "Would all these girls," he asks, with a sorrow that defies any glib, one-should-be-so-lucky retort, "be fucking me if they weren't getting paid?"
  • (12) I have immense sorrow over the loss of that child but I also have immense joy when I think of her.
  • (13) More than a dozen times in his presidency, Barack Obama has appeared before television cameras and issued statements to express sorrow at a mass shooting event in America.
  • (14) The emotion called chronic sorrow, introduced in 1962 by Olshansky, has had limited exposure in the literature.
  • (15) Yet the Brazilians who were photographed unleashing their sorrow on a cloudy, darkening evening, in scenes of anguish from Estádio Mineirão to Copacabana beach, were not mourning a massacre, atrocity or anything else that might seem to justify such infinite sadness.
  • (16) This too, I recognise, is another coping strategy, a way to get through what could be a sorrowful few years or even decades ahead.
  • (17) Every day I spend in sorrow, thinking about my family and how to reach the UK.” Intelligent, and very motivated, he is particularly frustrated at not being to able to study; eventually he hopes to become a doctor.
  • (18) For my own part, I would like to express sorrow and regret to those most distressed by the actions of my predecessor.
  • (19) American viewers mourning the death of Dan Stevens' character Matthew Crawley at the end of the show's Christmas special will be able to drown their sorrows with Downton wine, wear Downton jewellery and grow Downton roses, as part of a merchandising push aimed at capitalising on the drama's phenomenal global success.
  • (20) The concert has been long prepared, Josh and his friend Ahmed from the perilous estates nearby laying tracks to "Jessie Wright" and another song for Agnes – "a tribute to a girl got shot in Hoxton", Josh says, with apparent nonchalance, but a stab of sorrowful anger in his eye.