sentimental

[sen-tuh-men-tl]

adjective

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

pertaining to or dependent on sentiment: We kept the old photograph for purely sentimental reasons.

weakly emotional; mawkishly susceptible or tender: the sentimental Victorians.

characterized by or showing sentiment or refined feeling.

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 for sentimental

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

Antonyms for sentimental

1, 4. dispassionate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sentimentally

Historical Examples of sentimentally

“‘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.
The Secret of the Storm Country
Grace Miller White
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

tending to indulge the emotions excessively

making a direct appeal to the emotions, esp to romantic feelings

relating to or characterized by sentiment

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.