15 August 2018
sentimental
[sen-tuh-men-tl]
adjective
1. expressive of or appealing to sentiment, especially the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia:
a sentimental song.
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.
Origin of sentimental
1740-1750 First recorded in 1740-50; sentiment + -al1
Related forms
sentimentally, adverb
antisentimental, adjective
antisentimentally, adverb
hypersentimental, adjective
hypersentimentally, adverb
Synonyms
1. romantic, tender, nostalgic; maudlin, bathetic.
Antonyms
1, 4. dispassionate.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for sentimental
Contemporary Examples
A good commercial Christmas song must avoid being too sentimental or too cutesy.
Yes, I Like Christmas Music. Stop Laughing.
Michael Tomasky
December 24, 2014
Northanger Abbey, after all, parodies the tropes and excesses of sentimental Gothic novels.
The Birth of the Novel
Nick Romeo
November 27, 2014
While Kalman tends to mine the past for material, she is as irreverent as she is sentimental.
The Singular Artist of New Yorkistan
Lizzie Crocker
November 14, 2014
The simultaneously upbeat and sentimental ode to friendship is equal parts funk, trance, pop, and R&B.
The Swedish Queen of Soulful Pop: Mapei Won’t Wait for You to Listen
Caitlin Dickson
October 16, 2014
In another series, drafting a fantasy football team by the side of a fallen comrade could be sentimental, even borderline maudlin.
The MVPs of Sleaze Are Back: FXX’s ‘The League’ Ups the Degenerate Ante
Emily Shire
September 4, 2014
Historical Examples
Let us see if there is any foundation for this sentimental balderdash.
The Man Shakespeare
Frank Harris
This was the first time she had ever heard Martin ask for something as sentimental as a kiss.
Dust
Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
This country is absurd with its sentimental regard for individual liberty.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
The public has a sort of sentimental regard for that fellow.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
There was not a trace of sentimental expression to this absorption.
Hetty’s Strange History
Anonymous
Today’s quote
Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it.
– Bob Dylan
On this day
15 August 1769 – birth of Napoleon Bonaparte, French Emperor. Died 5 May 1821.
15 August 1945 – Japan announces its surrender to the Allies following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The official ‘Instrument of Surrender’ was signed on 2 September 1945.
15 August 1947 – India Independence Day. At the stroke of midnight (14/15 August), India was partitioned and granted independence from British rule.
15 – 18 August 1969 – the Woodstock Music & Art Fair (or just ‘Woodstock’), a festival of peace and music, was held over three days at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm, 69 kilometres south-west of the town of Woodstock in New York State. It featured artists such as Joan Baez, Ravi Shankar, Arlo Guthrie, Mountain, the Grateful Dead, Canned Heat, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix, Cosby Stills Nash and Young, Blood Sweat and Tears, Ten Years After. A number of high profile musicians declined to play, including The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Chicago, The Byrds, Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Iron Butterfly and Joni Mitchell. Woodstock is still considered to be the ultimate rock and counter-cultural festival. The promoters hoped for 50,000 to attend and were caught unprepared when more than 500,000 people attended.