sentimental

American  

[sen-tuh-men-tl] / ˌsɛn təˈmɛn tl /

adjective

1. expressive of or appealing to sentiment, especially the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia.

   a sentimental song.

   Synonyms:

   bathetic, maudlin, nostalgic, tender, romantic

   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 British  

/ 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

---

Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

• antisentimental adjective
• antisentimentally adverb
• hypersentimental adjective
• hypersentimentally adverb
• intersentimental adjective
• oversentimental adjective
• oversentimentally adverb
• quasi-sentimental adjective
• quasi-sentimentally adverb
• semisentimental adjective
• semisentimentally adverb
• sentimentally adverb
• supersentimental adjective
• supersentimentally adverb
• unsentimental adjective
• unsentimentally adverb

Etymology

Origin of sentimental

First recorded in 1740–50; sentiment + -al ¹

Explanation

Call a person sentimental if he or she is led more by emotions than by reason. If you have a sentimental attachment to a favorite stuffed animal, you'll probably even bring it to college with you. Sentimental describes a person who relies on emotions more than reason, or a novel or film that is overly emotional. Derived from the Latin verb, sentire "to feel," sentimental always implies that the emotions are involved a little too much. If you do something for sentimental reasons, you are only doing it because of an emotional attachment.

Example Sentences

It is not sentimental to care about this, it is babyish to think it means nothing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

"It sounds sentimental, but he said: 'dad had the last word'."

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

“It has been a challenge going from the scandal to relationship to miscarriage to arrest to being pregnant again,” she says as a sentimental melody lilts in the background.

From Salon • Mar. 21, 2026

He is an obvious sentimental favorite; he is trained by Mark Glatt, whose wife of 25 years, Dena, died Feb. 12 from cardiac arrest.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026

For some reason, Deborah had been highly sentimental that day, hugging my mother and me, telling us she loved us.

From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana

Related Words

• affectionate
• corny
• dreamy
• idealistic
• maudlin
• mushy
• nostalgic
• passionate
• saccharine
• sappy
• silly
• sweet
• tender
• touching
• weepy