condole

[ kuhn-dohl ]

verb (used without object)

, con·doled, con·dol·ing.

1. to express sympathy with a person who is suffering sorrow, misfortune, or grief (usually followed by with ):

   to condole with a friend whose father has died.

verb (used with object)

, con·doled, con·dol·ing.

1. Obsolete. to grieve with.

condole

/ kənˈdəʊl /

verb

1. intrfoll bywith to express sympathy with someone in grief, pain, etc

Derived Forms

• conˈdolatory, adjective
• conˈdolingly, adverb
• conˈdoler, noun

Other Words From

• con·do·la·to·ry [k, uh, n-, doh, -l, uh, -tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], adjective
• con·doler noun
• con·doling·ly adverb
• uncon·dola·tory adjective
• uncon·doled adjective
• uncon·doling adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of condole¹

1580–90; < Late Latin condolēre, equivalent to con- con- + dolēre to feel pain; akin to dolor

Word History and Origins

Origin of condole¹

C16: from Church Latin condolēre to suffer pain (with another), from Latin com- together + dolēre to grieve, feel pain

Example Sentences

Social media activist Phillip Ogola once aptly captured the response of politicians to a disaster as follows: "Rush to the scene, condole families, donate items, issue a tough statement, form a commission, wait for another disaster, repeat above".

From BBC

In my own personal experience, people were far more willing to approach, and condole, my first, late miscarriage of twins than my other earlier miscarriages — I think it was much to do with being able to conceptualize those two babies as ‘babies’: they were somehow ‘in the world’ more.

From Salon

“We condole with the family, but we tried,” he said.

From New York Times

"The sound of the bells is a wake-up call for a nation that no longer knows how to condole with the bereaved," and that was too "cowardly" to condemn the violence, he said.

From BBC

Sharma has come to “condole” the family of Mohammed Akhlaq, a 50-year-old labourer beaten to death by a mob in his small two-storey home in the centre of Bishara village, about an hour’s drive beyond the outskirts of Delhi, India’s capital, last Monday night.

From The Guardian