from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sympathetic \Sym`pa*thet"ic\, a. [See {Sympathy}, and cf.
{Pathetic}.]
1. Inclined to sympathy; sympathizing.
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Far wiser he, whose sympathetic mind
Exults in all the good of all mankind. --Goldsmith.
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2. Produced by, or expressive of, sympathy.
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Ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears. --Gray.
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3. (Physiol.)
(a) Produced by sympathy; -- applied particularly to
symptoms or affections. See {Sympathy}.
(b) Of or relating to the sympathetic nervous system or
some of its branches; produced by stimulation on the
sympathetic nervious system or some part of it; as,
the sympathetic saliva, a modified form of saliva,
produced from some of the salivary glands by
stimulation of a sympathetic nerve fiber.
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{Sympathetic ink}. (Chem.) See under {Ink}.
{Sympathetic nerve} (Anat.), any nerve of the sympathetic
system; especially, the axial chain of ganglions and
nerves belonging to the sympathetic system.
{Sympathetic powder} (Alchemy), a kind of powder long
supposed to be able to cure a wound if applied to the
weapon that inflicted it, or even to a portion of the
bloody clothes. --Dunglison.
{Sympathetic sounds} (Physics), sounds produced from solid
bodies by means of vibrations which have been communicated
to them from some other sounding body, by means of the air
or an intervening solid.
{Sympathetic system} (Anat.), a system of nerves and nerve
ganglions connected with the alimentary canal, the
vascular system, and the glandular organs of most
vertebrates, and controlling more or less their actions.
The axial part of the system and its principal ganglions
and nerves are situated in the body cavity and form a
chain of ganglions on each side of the vertebral column
connected with numerous other ganglions and nerve
plexuses.
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