feel someone’s pain, to

To empathize completely with someone. This hyperbolic idea is often asserted hypocritically, or by someone who is actually causing the pain. Thus, “I feel your pain” can be a politician’s response to a constituent who is complaining about the minimum wage, even though he actually voted against its being increased. This expression needs to be differentiated from feeling no pain, a slangy phrase from the mid-twentieth century describing someone who is intoxicated, and from I feel for you but I can’t quite reach you, a slangy response expressing lack of sympathy for someone’s hard-luck story.