sentimentality
/,sentimen'tæliti/
Học thuậtThân thiện
A grandmother smiles with sentimentality as she looks at an old family photo album.
Definition
- Noun:
- Excessive or exaggerated emotionalism: The quality of being overly emotional, especially in a way that seems exaggerated, affected, or insincere.
- Maudlin or mawkish feeling: A tendency to express or indulge in tender, nostalgic, or sad emotions in a way that is considered weak, self-indulgent, or lacking in depth.
Usage
- Sentimentality describes an overabundance of superficial or shallow emotion, often in art, writing, or personal expression. It is frequently used in a critical or negative sense to imply that the emotion is not genuine or is excessive to the point of being cloying.
- It is often contrasted with genuine, deep, or controlled feeling.
Examples
- The movie's ending was criticized for its heavy sentimentality, relying on clichés to make the audience cry.
- He avoided sentimentality in his speech, choosing instead to present the facts with quiet dignity.
- Her diary was full of a naive sentimentality about her childhood.
Advanced Usage
- "To lapse into sentimentality": To fall into an overly emotional or mawkish way of expressing oneself.
- The author's description of the reunion lapsed into pure sentimentality.
- "Cloying sentimentality": An especially excessive and sickly-sweet type of emotional display.
- The greeting card was filled with cloying sentimentality.
Variants and Related Words
- Sentimental (adj): Characterized by, exhibiting, or prone to sentimentality.
- He gets sentimental when he looks at old photographs.
- Sentimentalist (n): A person who is excessively sentimental.
- Sentimentalize (v): To treat, consider, or present in a sentimental way.
- The film sentimentalizes the hardships of war.
Synonyms
- Mawkishness: Excessive sentimentality, often to a sickening degree.
- Maudlinism: Tearful or weakly emotional sentimentality, often due to drunkenness.
- Schmaltz (informal): Excessive sentimentality, especially in music or writing.
- Corniness (informal): Trite, banal, or overly sentimental quality.
Antonyms
- Hard-heartedness: Lack of feeling or sympathy.
- Sobriety: Seriousness, gravity, or moderation in expression.
- Stoicism: The endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings.
Idioms and Phrases
- "A wave of sentimentality": A sudden, often temporary, feeling of exaggerated emotion.
- A wave of sentimentality came over her as she cleaned out her old room.
- "To be prone to sentimentality": To have a tendency to be overly sentimental.
- He is prone to sentimentality when talking about his school days.
A grandmother smiles with sentimentality as she looks at an old family photo album.
Noun
- extravagant or affected feeling or emotion
- falsely emotional in a maudlin way