sentimental

[ sen-tuh-men-tl ]

adjective

1. expressive of or appealing to sentiment, especially the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia:

   a sentimental song.

   Synonyms: nostalgic, tender, romantic, bathetic, maudlin

   Antonyms: dispassionate

2. pertaining to or dependent on sentiment:

   We kept the old photograph for purely sentimental reasons.

3. weakly emotional; mawkishly susceptible or tender:

   the sentimental Victorians.

4. characterized by or showing sentiment or refined feeling.

   Antonyms: dispassionate

sentimental

/ ˌsɛntɪˈmɛntəl /

adjective

1. tending to indulge the emotions excessively
2. making a direct appeal to the emotions, esp to romantic feelings
3. relating to or characterized by sentiment

Derived Forms

• ˌsentiˈmentally, adverb

Other Words From

• senti·mental·ly adverb
• anti·senti·mental adjective
• anti·senti·mental·ly adverb
• hyper·senti·mental adjective
• hyper·senti·mental·ly adverb
• inter·senti·mental adjective
• over·senti·mental adjective
• over·senti·mental·ly adverb
• quasi-senti·mental adjective
• quasi-senti·mental·ly adverb
• semi·senti·mental adjective
• semi·senti·mental·ly adverb
• super·senti·mental adjective
• super·senti·mental·ly adverb
• unsen·ti·mental adjective
• unsen·ti·mental·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of sentimental¹

First recorded in 1740–50; sentiment + -al ¹

Example Sentences

A good commercial Christmas song must avoid being too sentimental or too cutesy.

From The Daily Beast

Northanger Abbey, after all, parodies the tropes and excesses of sentimental Gothic novels.

From The Daily Beast

While Kalman tends to mine the past for material, she is as irreverent as she is sentimental.

From The Daily Beast

The simultaneously upbeat and sentimental ode to friendship is equal parts funk, trance, pop, and R&B.

From The Daily Beast

In another series, drafting a fantasy football team by the side of a fallen comrade could be sentimental, even borderline maudlin.

From The Daily Beast

Frulein Fichtner is more in the bravura than in the sentimental line, and she has a certain breadth, grasp, and freshness.

From Project Gutenberg

There are sentimental children, as there are sentimental adults, who seem never happier than when the tears are ready to start.

From Project Gutenberg

She resented his sudden drop from his pedestal, for he looked sentimental and somewhat sheepish.

From Project Gutenberg

I see no infinite goodness here, but only the infinite foolishness of sentimental superstition.

From Project Gutenberg

These worthy men really made too much of his sentimental journey.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• affectionate
• corny
• dreamy
• idealistic
• maudlin
• mushy
• nostalgic
• passionate
• saccharine
• sappy
• silly
• sweet
• tender
• touching
• weepy