mercy vs sympathy

mercy

noun
  • A tendency toward forgiveness, pity, or compassion. 

  • Instances of forbearance or forgiveness. 

  • A blessing; something to be thankful for. 

  • Forgiveness or compassion, especially toward those less fortunate. 

  • Relenting; forbearance to cause or allow harm to another. 

  • A children's game in which two players stand opposite with hands grasped and twist each other's arms until one gives in. 

verb
  • To feel mercy 

  • To show mercy; to pardon or treat leniently because of mercy 

intj
  • Expressing surprise or alarm. 

sympathy

noun
  • A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another. 

  • Support in the form of shared feelings or opinions. 

  • Artistic harmony, as of shape or colour in a painting. 

  • The formal expression of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune. 

  • The ability to share the feelings of another. 

  • Mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it. 

  • An affinity, association or mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition. 

  • Feeling of loyalty; tendency towards, agreement with or approval of an opinion or aim; a favorable attitude. 

How often have the words mercy and sympathy occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )