sentiment

American  

[sen-tuh-muhnt] / ˈsɛn tə mənt /

noun

1. an attitude toward something; regard; opinion.

2. a mental feeling; emotion.

   a sentiment of pity.

3. refined or tender emotion; manifestation of the higher or more refined feelings.

4. exhibition or manifestation of feeling or sensibility, or appeal to the tender emotions, in literature, art, or music.

5. a thought influenced by or proceeding from feeling or emotion.

6. 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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sentiment British  

/ ˈsɛntɪmənt /

noun

1. susceptibility to tender, delicate, or romantic emotion

   she has too much sentiment to be successful

2. (often plural) a thought, opinion, or attitude

3. exaggerated, overindulged, or mawkish feeling or emotion

4. an expression of response to deep feeling, esp in art or literature

5. a feeling, emotion, or awareness

   a sentiment of pity

6. a mental attitude modified or determined by feeling

   there is a strong revolutionary sentiment in his country

7. a feeling conveyed, or intended to be conveyed, in words

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Usage

What are other ways to say sentiment?

A sentiment is a mental feeling or tender emotion, or a thought proceeding from feeling or emotion. How is it different from feeling, emotion, and passion? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

Related Words

See opinion. 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.

Other Word Forms

• sentimentless adjective

Etymology

Origin of sentiment

First recorded in 1325–75; from Medieval Latin sentīmentum, equivalent to Latin sentī(re) “to feel” + -mentum -ment; replacing Middle English sentement, from Old French, from Medieval Latin, as above

Example Sentences

The sentiment started shifting on private credit last fall.

From The Wall Street Journal

But a sentiment shift, however unlikely, could be quick.

From The Wall Street Journal

A key gauge of business sentiment in Japan improved for a fourth straight quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Given that these days, EPS revisions are the almost sole driver of investment sentiment, we expect investors will react positively.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Despite rising gas prices, a low unemployment rate appeared to be enough to ease immediate concerns, and yet the University of Michigan survey for March, meanwhile, recorded a 6% drop in consumer sentiment.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• attitude
• bias
• feeling
• idea
• opinion
• passion
• position
• tendency
• thought
• view