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

As much as I miss my friends and traveling in general, for example, I plan to take a cue from Reggie and am not going to take a sentimental journey this year.

From Washington Post

We don’t just mean compassion matters in a moral or ethical or sentimental sense.

From Freakonomics

If a sentimental ornament breaks, Borchers suggests preserving the broken pieces in a frame or inside a glass ornament that can be hung on the tree.

From Washington Post

As long as you have a close relationship to the griever and know their preferences well, a thoughtful, sentimental gift could bring the bittersweet joy they need right now.

From Popular-Science

It’s sentimental, like someone is trying to get ahold of you.

From MIT Technology Review

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

More About Sentimental

What does sentimental mean?

Sentimental means expressing, appealing to, or being moved by sensitive or tender emotions, such as love, nostalgia, or pity.

The state or quality of being sentimental is sentimentality. Sentimental, sentimentality, and other related words (like sentimentalism, which can be used as a synonym of sentimentality) are based on the sense of the word sentiment that refers to sensitive or tender emotions, sensitivity to such emotions, or appeal to such emotions.

Such terms are especially used to imply that these emotions are exaggerated or overindulged. Sometimes, they imply that these emotions get in the way of thinking logically or being realistic.

People are sometimes criticized for being overly sentimental, as in Stop being so sentimental and looking at things through rose-colored glasses, instead of seeing what they’re really like.  

These kinds of criticisms are especially common in the context of art. For example, a book or film may be criticized as being overly sentimental in dealing with a historical event. This implies that it portrays the event in an idealized, simplistic, or nostalgic way instead of depicting it accurately and dealing with what really happened.

Such works might also be described as melodramatic. When they’re tearfully or weakly emotional, they might be described as maudlin, mawkish, sappy, or weepy. Hallmark holiday movies are known for being sentimental.

Things that are kept due to being associated with fond memories or loved ones are said to have sentimental value.

Example: He’s so sentimental that he keeps all of his childhood toys.

Where does sentimental come from?

The first records of the word sentimental come from the mid-1700s. The word sentiment is first recorded in the 1300s and comes from the Latin verb sentī(re), meaning “to feel.” The suffix -al is used to form adjectives.

Books and movies that are sentimental are intended to make you feel all the feels—to have an emotional impact, especially one that makes you cry. Sometimes, though, this kind of sentimentality comes at the expense of a realistic story or believable characters. This kind of emotional effect is sometimes described as cheaply sentimental.

Still, sentimental isn’t always used negatively. When a person is sentimental, it often means they are sensitive to their own emotions and to those of others. That focus on feelings like tenderness might mean they express love very openly.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to sentimental?

• sentimentality (noun)
• sentiment (noun)

What are some synonyms for sentimental?

• bathetic
• maudlin
• mawkish
• sappy

What are some words that share a root or word element with sentimental? 

• sentimental value
• sentimentalism
• sentimentalist
• sentimentalize

What are some words that often get used in discussing sentimental?

• nostalgic
• cheaply
• false
• melodramatic
• romantic
• weepy
• cloying

How is sentimental used in real life?

Sentimental is often used to describe people and works of art. It’s often used in a critical way to imply that they are unrealistic, but this is not always the case.

I can’t trust movie reviews that call things overly sentimental like it’s a bad thing. Like sorry this was too sweet!!!!! …..Not a problem w me, that is my brand

— kathryn b (@kathwynbaldrin) November 12, 2020

I'm feeling sentimental and nostalgic. I've watched supernatural since 2005. When I was in 5th grade. 15 years. It's crazy that it's finally coming to an end now.

— ✩☽⁷ (@eris_248) November 20, 2020

I have too many notebooks that I consider too pretty, or hold significant sentimental value, to use.

— Enjy AB 🏳 (@NG_Ashour) November 19, 2020

 

Try using sentimental!

Which of the following words is NOT a synonym of sentimental?

A. realistic
B. maudlin
C. cloying
D. sappy