sentiment

American  

[sen-tuh-muhnt] / ˈsɛn tə mənt /

noun

1. an attitude toward something; regard; opinion.

2. a mental feeling; emotion.

   a sentiment of pity.

3. refined or tender emotion; manifestation of the higher or more refined feelings.

4. exhibition or manifestation of feeling or sensibility, or appeal to the tender emotions, in literature, art, or music.

5. a thought influenced by or proceeding from feeling or emotion.

6. the thought or feeling intended to be conveyed by words, acts, or gestures as distinguished from the words, acts, or gestures themselves.

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sentiment British  

/ ˈsɛntɪmənt /

noun

1. susceptibility to tender, delicate, or romantic emotion

   she has too much sentiment to be successful

2. (often plural) a thought, opinion, or attitude

3. exaggerated, overindulged, or mawkish feeling or emotion

4. an expression of response to deep feeling, esp in art or literature

5. a feeling, emotion, or awareness

   a sentiment of pity

6. a mental attitude modified or determined by feeling

   there is a strong revolutionary sentiment in his country

7. a feeling conveyed, or intended to be conveyed, in words

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Usage

What are other ways to say sentiment?

A sentiment is a mental feeling or tender emotion, or a thought proceeding from feeling or emotion. How is it different from feeling, emotion, and passion? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

Related Words

See opinion. Sentiment, sentimentality are terms for sensitiveness to emotional feelings. Sentiment is a sincere and refined sensibility, a tendency to be influenced by emotion rather than reason or fact: to appeal to sentiment. Sentimentality implies affected, excessive, sometimes mawkish sentiment: weak sentimentality.

Other Word Forms

• sentimentless adjective

Etymology

Origin of sentiment

First recorded in 1325–75; from Medieval Latin sentīmentum, equivalent to Latin sentī(re) “to feel” + -mentum -ment; replacing Middle English sentement, from Old French, from Medieval Latin, as above

Example Sentences

Consumer sentiment sits near a record low at the end of 2025, but the news isn’t all bad.

From The Wall Street Journal

Consumer sentiment about the economy remains gloomy, largely because of lingering anger over high prices for groceries, housing and other items.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The Sikh sentiment is always to remain optimistic,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, at 52.9, was a touch below expectations of 53.4, but Wall Street was still in a jolly mood following yesterday’s cooler-than-expected consumer price index.

From Barron's

Fiscal support in major economies and a return to neutral monetary policies in the U.S. and Europe will also cushion the economy and investor risk sentiment, Fitch adds.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• attitude
• bias
• feeling
• idea
• opinion
• passion
• position
• tendency
• thought
• view