sentimentalize
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Usage
What does sentimentalize mean? Sentimentalize means to view or portray someone or something in a way that’s sentimental—one that appeals to sensitive or tender emotions, such as love, nostalgia, or pity.Sentimentalize and sentimental 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 sentimentalizing (or oversentimentalizing), as in Stop sentimentalizing everything and looking at things through rose-colored glasses. These kinds of criticisms are especially common in the context of art. For example, a book or film may be criticized as sentimentalizing 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.The words romanticize, idealize, and glamorize are used in similar ways.Example: Stories that sentimentalize the past as a golden age are often drawing on a false nostalgia and wishing to go back to a time that never really existed.
Other Word Forms
- oversentimentalize verb
- semisentimentalized adjective
- sentimentalization noun
- sentimentalizer noun
- unsentimentalized adjective
Etymology
Origin of sentimentalize
First recorded in 1790–1800; sentimental + -ize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Stonewalling” doesn’t sentimentalize or squeeze tears for Lynn, who, for all her meekness, naivete and often-foolish decisions, is tough enough to have long ago waived her right to self-pity.
From Los Angeles Times
But fealty isn’t always a productive strategy, and while the first film greatly tempers the book’s shocks, it doesn’t sentimentalize the source material, as this one does.
From New York Times
Shelton doesn’t sentimentalize this world; in fact, he has fun doing the opposite.
From Seattle Times
As America’s supplicant, Churchill contrived the special relationship, a sentimentalized international bond based not in shifting national interests but on permanently shared values.
From New York Times
He did not intellectualize or sentimentalize the game, or rationalize his love for it.
From Washington Post
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
