What's the difference between compassion and mercy?

Compassion


Definition:

  • (n.) Literally, suffering with another; a sensation of sorrow excited by the distress or misfortunes of another; pity; commiseration.
  • (v. t.) To pity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I woke up yesterday morning with an inbox, in full capacity of love and compassion,” she wrote.
  • (2) These boys showed a lack of compassion to our daughter and to their community as a whole."
  • (3) Speaking at a film festival in Dubai he said: "My compass has not stopped spinning," referring to the many policy switches made by the party he previously supported.
  • (4) The letter is particularly striking given that some of signatories are on the party's centre right, such as Progress and Policy Network, and others on the left, such as key figures at Compass and Class.
  • (5) Male eastern red-spotted newts (Notophthalmus viridescens) under controlled laboratory conditions exhibit unimodal magnetic compass orientation either in a trained compass direction or in the direction of their home pond.
  • (6) The grand mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, said Islam did not need a reformation “since the normative principles and practices of the religion allow Muslims to harmoniously coexist within pluralist societies that are based on the universal values of compassion and justice”.
  • (7) What it says is that their moral code is lacking any kind of compass we can endorse,” said Sharan Burrow, the Ituc general secretary.
  • (8) There has been a great deal of media coverage about the need for staff to demonstrate compassion.
  • (9) It seems that Mrs May’s vicarage upbringing has left her more than a little lacking in Christian compassion.
  • (10) When Malcolm Turnbull was asked about Asha specifically he said he wouldn’t comment on individual cases but that we’ll be treating all people with compassion.
  • (11) What an inspiration: teaching us all to embrace life, look after each other, and have love and compassion no matter what May 14, 2014 Comedian Jason Manford, who championed Stephen's cause and helped him surpass his fundraising goal, released a statement on Wednesday afternoon: Guardian readers have also added their tributes in the comments of the article about his death, with one reflecting on the way Stephen mastered social media in order to raise money for charity and document his story.
  • (12) I’m sure if my father was around, if he had the opportunity to meet her he would be reminding her that compassion was important, that ethics in public life was important, and that compromise was important.
  • (13) Staff do not always honour the pledge on compassion in the NHS Constitution to "respond with humanity and kindness to each person's pain, distress, anxiety or need", he added.
  • (14) More than that, the proposition acts as a compass for Labour policy proposals ie: "How does a particular policy contribute towards work, public income and a caring society?"
  • (15) In a letter to the prime minister he urged Cameron to show “compassion and human kindness” .
  • (16) It is essential, then, in order to lessen the tendency toward neurosis, that such women be treated with compassion, competence, patience and psychiatric care, and that they be made fully aware of surgical procedures and its consequences, as well as the advantages of eugenics.
  • (17) It's music that defines compassion, lament, and loss, to which you can only surrender in moist-eyed wonder.
  • (18) But there is a difference between knowledge of other peoples and other times that is the result of understanding, compassion, careful study and analysis for their own sakes, and on the other hand knowledge that is part of an overall campaign of self-affirmation.
  • (19) For our government at the highest levels to suggest that when it comes to asylum seekers at sea there is no moral compass and no moral limit is not only astonishing and appalling but completely unacceptable,” he said.
  • (20) The norms, practices and capabilities of teams contribute to the formation of effective working relationships and determine whether there is a micro-climate that allows compassion to thrive.

Mercy


Definition:

  • (n.) Forbearance to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict it; compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary; clemency.
  • (n.) Compassionate treatment of the unfortunate and helpless; sometimes, favor, beneficence.
  • (n.) Disposition to exercise compassion or favor; pity; compassion; willingness to spare or to help.
  • (n.) A blessing regarded as a manifestation of compassion or favor.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The law and justice minister, Anisul Huq, said the 73-year-old leader was hanged after he refused to seek mercy from the country’s president.
  • (2) But if May rushes headlong into a panicked triggering of article 50 without a clear idea of what she wants out of negotiations, she will have left us at the mercy of 27 countries who have heard little but table-thumping and empty threats from ministers.
  • (3) He called for care for the environment to be added to the seven spiritual works of mercy outlined in the Gospel that the faithful are asked to perform throughout the pope’s year of mercy in 2016.
  • (4) But Ruby Tweedie, another local resident, said: "There have been so many doubts about his guilt that it's only fair that the man, who has only a few months to live, should be shown mercy."
  • (5) Constant ribbing about his private life was compromising Deayton's position as the show's "holier-than-thou" host, who showed no mercy towards politicians or celebrities caught in a similar position, the corporation added.
  • (6) The 70-year-old describes a life of comfortable detachment from mainstream society, but with long periods in which he and his 74-year-old wife, Shin-yeol, are at the mercy of the elements.
  • (7) We're kind of at Mother Nature's mercy at this point," said Tom Kruschke, another fire department spokesman .
  • (8) Without him, we were at the mercy of increasingly nervous investors, and our Hollywood film-making future hung in the balance.
  • (9) Students of privatisation over the years have learnt to be grateful for small mercies.
  • (10) The mayor is a good person, but no one invited him, certainly not officially … The pope was furious.” While the prank provided fodder to critics of the mayor, it also underscored a more serious issue between the Vatican and Rome just a few months ahead of the church’s jubilee year of mercy, which begins on 8 December.
  • (11) The only mercy was they would have known little about it.
  • (12) After Hollande spent two hours on French radio in a patent relaunch of his presidency, a film producer announced that a biopic of Trierweiler’s revenge memoir, Merci Pour Ce Moment (Thank You For This Moment), is now in the works.
  • (13) Hunt replied: "Merci hopefully when consultation over we can have coffee like old days!"
  • (14) "The legal system has lost all sense of mercy and justice and it has been replaced with punitiveness and vindictiveness," Stinebrickner-Kauffman told Mail Online .
  • (15) If Whittingdale had any honour, any mercy, and any basic human decency, he would murder David Attenborough himself today, in his bed, to spare him any further suffering.
  • (16) It was not something that was talked about.” Thomson added: “It was mercifully quick and I remember first of all feeling surprise, then fear, then horror as I realised I quite simply couldn’t escape – because he was stronger than me, and there was no sense even initially of any sexual desire from him, which I suppose, looking back, again I find odd.” The MP said she had felt “absolutely numbed” and ashamed but told no one about the incident.
  • (17) Several survivors and family members of the victims who were flown to the US testified this week , and one cursed Bales for attacking villagers as some slept and others screamed for mercy.
  • (18) This meant that if the rebels started abusing people, the Misca would withdraw, leaving the civilian population at their mercy.
  • (19) Sitting in a side street listening to the sound of loud blasts and gunfire emanating from Nariman House, Rakash Bhaud, the local leader of the far-right Hindu party Shiv Sena, blamed the central government for the failures that, he said, had left them at the mercy of Pakistan-backed terrorists.
  • (20) More emphasis on mercy is needed in this case, surely, and less on killing.