Definition

1. Noun:
   • A tendency to indulge in or favor sentimentality: "Sentimentalism" refers to a preference for or inclination toward emotional responses, particularly those involving tender feelings, nostalgia, or sadness, often perceived as excessive or superficial.
   • The excessive expression of tender feelings, nostalgia, or sadness in any form: It denotes the quality or practice of expressing emotions in a way that is considered overly demonstrative, mawkish, or lacking in restraint or genuine depth.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The novel's sentimentalism appealed to readers who enjoyed its heartfelt, if somewhat clichéd, portrayal of lost love.
  • Critics dismissed the film's ending as pure sentimentalism, arguing it manipulated the audience's emotions without narrative justification.
  • His writing avoids sentimentalism, favoring a more detached and analytical style.

Advanced Usage

• As a critical term: Often used in literary, artistic, or cultural criticism to describe work perceived as excessively emotional or designed to elicit a cheap emotional response.

  • The director was accused of sentimentalism for using a score of melancholic music over every poignant scene.

• In philosophical or historical contexts: Can refer to an 18th-century philosophical trend that emphasized feeling as a source of moral knowledge, though this is a more specialized usage.

  • The philosopher's work was influenced by the sentimentalism of the era, which valued innate moral sentiment.

Variants and Related Words

• Sentimental (adj): Characterized by, expressing, or appealing to tender, nostalgic, or sad emotions, sometimes excessively so.
  • She kept a sentimental attachment to her childhood toys.
• Sentimentality (n): The quality of being sentimental. This is a close synonym, though "sentimentalism" can more specifically imply a doctrine, tendency, or habitual practice.
  • The sentimentality of the greeting card made him roll his eyes.
• Sentimentalist (n): A person who is given to sentimentalism.
  • He was a hopeless sentimentalist, always getting teary-eyed at old photographs.

Synonyms

• Mawkishness: Excessive sentimentality, often to the point of being sickly or insincere.
• Schmaltz (informal): Excessive sentimentality, especially in music or writing.
• Corniness (informal): Trite, simplistic, or mawkishly sentimental quality.

Antonyms

• Cynicism: An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, often distrusting or dismissing sincere human motives.
• Stoicism: The endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings or complaint.
• Objectivity: Judgment based on observable phenomena and uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices.

Idioms and Phrases

• A streak of sentimentalism: Used to describe a persistent tendency in a person's character to be sentimental.
  • Beneath his tough exterior, he had a streak of sentimentalism when it came to his family.

Noun

1. a predilection for sentimentality
2. the excessive expression of tender feelings, nostalgia, or sadness in any form