1. Anyone who uses intellectual identification with, or the vicarious experiencing of, the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another person: Because Stella had the capacity of understanding other people so well, she was known to be an empathist.
2. Someone who has an imaginative response to an object: An empathist can project his or her own personality into a natural object or a work of art, or who can assign feelings or attitudes in oneself to the objects.