sentiment
[sen-tuh-muh nt]
- an attitude toward something; regard; opinion.
- a mental feeling; emotion: a sentiment of pity.
- refined or tender emotion; manifestation of the higher or more refined feelings.
- exhibition or manifestation of feeling or sensibility, or appeal to the tender emotions, in literature, art, or music.
- a thought influenced by or proceeding from feeling or emotion.
- 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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Origin of sentiment
1325–75; < Medieval Latin sentīmentum, equivalent to Latin sentī(re) to feel + -mentum -ment; replacing Middle English sentement < Old French < Medieval Latin, as above
Synonym study
1. See opinion. 2. See feeling. 3. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
ideathoughtattitudebiaspassionpositionopinionfeelingtendencyviewmindpenchanteyepropensitypersuasioninclinationslantpartialitydispositionaffectExamples from the Web for sentiments
Contemporary Examples
But none of them are so out of step with sentiments common among many New Yorkers.
I shared the sentiments of the Fatah sentry who allowed me inside the walls of the Muqata in Ramallah.
The two sentiments usually come bundled together, and cut both ways.
100 Years of Wrigley Field: Are the Chicago Cubs Horrible Because of the Ballpark?Luke Epplin
March 28, 2014
These sentiments were expressed personally to Georgian Prime Minister Garibashvili during his trip to Washington, D.C. last month.
But despite the PR-friendly veneer, the sentiments are difficult to dispute.
Historical Examples
The thoughts of the men of that day were as practical as their sentiments were patriotic.
With these fears, and these sentiments, I was now to choose a wife.
Tales And Novels, Volume 4 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
It was but within these few hours that I have been undeceived by you as to his sentiments.
Tales And Novels, Volume 5 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
I thought I was speaking your sentiments, and that I must be right.
Tales And Novels, Volume 5 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
sentiment
- susceptibility to tender, delicate, or romantic emotionshe has too much sentiment to be successful
- (often plural) a thought, opinion, or attitude
- exaggerated, overindulged, or mawkish feeling or emotion
- an expression of response to deep feeling, esp in art or literature
- a feeling, emotion, or awarenessa sentiment of pity
- a mental attitude modified or determined by feelingthere is a strong revolutionary sentiment in his country
- a feeling conveyed, or intended to be conveyed, in words
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Word Origin
C17: from Medieval Latin sentīmentum, from Latin sentīre to feel
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for sentiments
sentiment
n.
late 14c., sentement, "personal experience, one's own feeling," from Old French sentement (12c.), from Medieval Latin sentimentum "feeling, affection, opinion," from Latin sentire "to feel" (see sense (n.)).
Meaning "what one feels about something" (1630s) and modern spelling seem to be a re-introduction from French (where it was spelled sentiment by 17c.). A vogue word mid-18c. with wide application, commonly "a thought colored by or proceeding from emotion" (1762), especially as expressed in literature or art. The 17c. sense is preserved in phrases such as my sentiments exactly.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper