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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.
  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.
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Origin of sentimental

First recorded in 1740–50; sentiment + -al1
Related formssen·ti·men·tal·ly, adverban·ti·sen·ti·men·tal, adjectivean·ti·sen·ti·men·tal·ly, adverbhy·per·sen·ti·men·tal, adjectivehy·per·sen·ti·men·tal·ly, adverbin·ter·sen·ti·men·tal, adjectiveo·ver·sen·ti·men·tal, adjectiveo·ver·sen·ti·men·tal·ly, adverbqua·si-sen·ti·men·tal, adjectivequa·si-sen·ti·men·tal·ly, adverbsem·i·sen·ti·men·tal, adjectivesem·i·sen·ti·men·tal·ly, adverbsu·per·sen·ti·men·tal, adjectivesu·per·sen·ti·men·tal·ly, adverbun·sen·ti·men·tal, adjectiveun·sen·ti·men·tal·ly, adverb

Synonyms

1. romantic, tender, nostalgic; maudlin, bathetic.

Antonyms

1, 4. dispassionate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for sentimentally

Historical Examples

  • “‘Say au revoir, but not good-by,’” sang Miss Sherborne sentimentally.

    Cap'n Warren's Wards

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • The youth of her was in that intangible thing called, sentimentally, the spirit.

    Gigolo

    Edna Ferber

  • "Made more lovely because of you," replied Waldstricker, sentimentally.

  • And sentimentally, not imaginatively, the Englishman will die.

    Appearances

    Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson

  • Sentimentally I am disposed to harmony; but organically I am incapable of a tune.

    Familiar Quotations

    John Bartlett

British Dictionary definitions for sentimentally

sentimental

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
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Derived Formssentimentally, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sentimentally

sentimental

adj.

1749, "pertaining to or characterized by sentiment," from sentiment + -al (1). At first without pejorative connotations; meaning "having too much sentiment, apt to be swayed by prejudice" had emerged by 1793 (implied in sentimentalist). Related: Sentimentally.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper