Full record for empath n.

Definition one with the empathic ability to sense others' emotions.
OED requirements antedating 1956
Earliest cite J.T. McIntosh, Empath
Comment Enoch Forrester submitted a cite from a reprint of Harlan Ellison's "Try A Dull Knife"; Mike Christie verified it in the 1968 original magazine appearance. Robert Carnegie located a cite in James White's "Visitor At Large", and Mike Christie verified it in the original 1959 magazine appearance. Jeff Prucher submitted a cite from a 1995 reprint of Octavia Butler's 1993 novel "The Parable of the Sower". Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a reprint of Anne McCaffrey's "A Bridle for Pegasus"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1973 first appearance. Enoch Forrester submitted a cite from a 1993 reprint of Peter David's "Imzadi". Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite from a 1999 reprint of David Weber's 1993 "On Basilisk Station". Fred Galvin submitted a 1957 cite from Robert Silverberg's "Warm Man". Fred Galvin suggested J.T. Mcintosh's story "Empath"; Mike Christie confirmed this in its 1956 original publication.
Last modified 6 July, 2008

Citations for empath n.

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1957 R. Silverberg Warm Man in Mag. Fantasy & Sci. Fiction May 55/2 Irony: the compulsive empath overloaded and burned out by a compulsive sender who'd been bottled up.
1968 H. Ellison in Fantasy & Sci. Fiction Oct. 71/1 That was Eddie Burma's problem. He was an empath. He felt. Deep inside himself, on a level most people never even know exists, he felt for the world.
1971 U. K. LeGuin Vaster Than Empires & More Slow in E. S. Rabkin Sci. Fiction: Historical Anthol. (1983) 519 The empath stood motionless for a long time.
1973 A. McCaffrey in Analog Sci. Fiction/Fact July 24/2 We are both agreed that she is a broadcasting empath?
1974 J. Blish Star Trek 10 33 She must be an empath!
1991 M. Weiss King's Test iv.iii.323 The empath nearly shriveled up into a ball.
1991 M. Weiss King's Test iv. ii. 315 Empaths are often paired with the Loti.
1992 P. David Imzadi (1993) 121 Deanna's no mind reader. She's an empath. She senses moods, emotions, feelings.
1994 B. Hambly Crossroad vi.81 Trained as empaths‥trained to the psion drive.
1994 Sci Fi Entertainment Aug. 20/3 With Richard Joseph Paul as a heroic ‘empath’ embroiled in a battle with an evil gang.
1995 Interzone Mar. 55/1 The novella “Need” (1960) is one of the best of his psi -stories, but it is also one of the most harrowing; here the possession of a superhuman sensitivity becomes an alienating force in its own right, and the self-knowledge which the protagonist gains by virtue of his association with the empath is coldly unflattering.
1999 C. Pellegrino & G. Zebrowski Star Trek Next Generation: Dyson Sphere ix. 144 I've had some doubts about his judgment, having heard that he plays poker with an empath and a card-counting android.