sentimentality
17
5.5
- noun
- /ˌsɛntɪˈmɛntəlɪti/
- We are driven by sentimentality, which is false, dramatic, shallow, displayed feeling feelings not in the heart, but feelings worn on the sleeve.
- sentimentality and nostalgia
- romantic sentimentality
- the sentimentality of the novel
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeIt's pretty sincere without, I hope ever falling into sentimentality, which I despise.
- It's pretty sincere without, I hope ever falling into sentimentality, which I despise.
- Our things have sentimental value only because we have imparted sentimentality onto them, right?
- The person who's motivated by sentimentality and empathy and all this great stuff, right?
- We are driven by sentimentality, which is false, dramatic, shallow, displayed feeling feelings not in the heart, but feelings worn on the sleeve.
- And it's gives the sentimentality a, a bigger impact in the end.
- And it's it's sentimentality revealing new principles to us about how we ought to behave.
Examples
-
The film was criticized for its over-the-top sentimentality that felt insincere to the audience.
-
You can't let sentimentality derail everything that we've worked so hard for.
-
Personal sentimentality has no place in our movement.
-
Any more sentimentality around here, I shall go back to the hospital!
-
To avoid the comfortable sentimentality of being able to think that evil exists outside ourselves.
Fiction book (1997) -
There's no room for sentimentality, you know that.
-
I suppose I should consider this a loss to science and a foolish surrender to sentimentality.
Fiction book (2001) -
Students who are willing to display empathy or sentimentality are putting themselves in a position of vulnerability.
Academic text (2011) -
It's pretty sincere without, I hope ever falling into sentimentality, which I despise.
-
Her style shows signs of maturity; her tales are not prepubescent anymore, and her sentimentality has mellowed.
Academic text (1996)
Synonyms
4
7.3
The act of showing very strong feelings, often more than needed
3
9.5
An overly emotional style in art like songs or films
1
7.9
A tendency to show too much tender or nostalgic feeling about the past
1
7.2
A person's exaggerated emotional behavior often shown in speech or acting
1
9.5
A feeling of too much fake emotion that seems overly sweet
1
6.3
Being too emotional in a way that seems not sincere
1
7.7
Being overly emotional in a way that seems not sincere
1
9.9
Too much emotion in art or music that feels overdone
A feeling that is too emotional and seems false
Too much emotion that seems false
A feeling that is too emotional in a story or film
A feeling of being too sad and emotional, often after drinking
Antonyms
How Sentimental
Surface Forms
Morphology
sentimentality = sentimental (semi-transparent) = sentiment + al + ity
A regular nominalization: the adjective 'sentimental' + the noun-forming suffix '-ity' yields the abstract noun meaning 'the state or quality of being sentimental'.
Etymology
Sentimentality comes from the Latin sentire meaning 'to feel' and from sentiment, a 'feeling', and it shares the same root as sense and sensitive. So sentimentality is like 'too much feeling' — showing emotions in a way that is overly emotional or not real, which is why we use it for writing or films that feel exaggerated.