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View synonyms for sensationalism

sensationalism

[ sen-sey-shuh-nl-iz-uhm ]

noun

  1. subject matter, language, or style producing or designed to produce startling or thrilling impressions or to excite and please vulgar taste.
  2. the use of or interest in this subject matter, language, or style:

    The cheap tabloids relied on sensationalism to increase their circulation.

  3. Philosophy.
    1. the doctrine that the good is to be judged only by the gratification of the senses.
    2. the doctrine that all ideas are derived from and are essentially reducible to sensations.
  4. Psychology. sensationism.


sensationalism

/ sɛnˈseɪʃənəˌlɪzəm /

noun

  1. the use of sensational language, etc, to arouse an intense emotional response
  2. such sensational matter itself
  3. Also calledsensualism philosophy
    1. the doctrine that knowledge cannot go beyond the analysis of experience
    2. ethics the doctrine that the ability to gratify the senses is the only criterion of goodness
  4. psychol the theory that all experience and mental life may be explained in terms of sensations and remembered images
  5. aesthetics the theory of the beauty of sensuality in the arts


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Derived Forms

  • senˌsationalˈistic, adjective
  • senˈsationalist, nounadjective

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Other Words From

  • sen·sation·al·ist noun adjective
  • sen·sation·al·istic adjective
  • nonsen·sation·al·istic adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of sensationalism1

First recorded in 1840–50; sensational + -ism

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Example Sentences

The history of journalism is filled with hoaxes, sensationalism, and widespread misconceptions.

One of his kinder letters of recommendation warned that his scholarship was “open to the charge of sensationalism.”

Both presented themselves as victims of media sensationalism.

She said the drug bridge drew the predictable sensationalism from a press throng that took its drug use cues from tamer festivals.

On television, Brzezinski and others are attempting to be more sensitive to the implications of easy sensationalism.

It must aim at getting a majority on its side, and this it can only do by sensationalism.

His men understood him perfectly, and nobody within barrack walls had an idea of the potential sensationalism of his words.

When they are not impostures, a careful investigation will show that they are the effect of pulpit sensationalism.

There was no need of exaggeration—of any penny-a-line news, or of any sensationalism.

This book is fitted to keep it alive without descending to improbability or cheap sensationalism.

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sensationalsensationalize