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.
[Origin: 1325–75; < ML sentīmentum, equiv. to L sentī(re) to feel + -mentum-ment; r. ME sentement < OF < ML, as above]
—Related forms
sen·ti·ment·less, adjective
—Synonyms 1.See opinion.2.See feeling.3.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.
A thought, view, or attitude, especially one based mainly on emotion instead of reason: An anti-American sentiment swept through the country. See Synonyms at feeling, opinion.
Emotion; feeling: Different forms of music convey different kinds of sentiment.
Tender or romantic feeling.
Maudlin emotion; sentimentality.
The emotional import of a passage as distinct from its form of expression.
The expression of delicate and sensitive feeling, especially in art and literature.
[Middle English sentement, from Old French, from Medieval Latin sentīmentum, from Latin sentīre, to feel; see sent- in Indo-European roots.]
c.1374, sentement, "personal experience, one's own feeling," from O.Fr. sentement (12c.), from M.L. sentimentum "feeling, affection, opinion," from L. sentire "to feel" (see sense). Meaning "what one feels about something" (1639) and modern spelling seem to be a re-introduction from Fr. (where it was spelled sentiment by this time). A vogue word with wide application mid-18c., commonly "a thought colored by or proceeding from emotion" (1762), especially as expressed in literature or art. The 17c. sense is preserved in phrases such as my sentiments exactly.
a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty; "my opinion differs from yours"; "I am not of your persuasion"; "what are your thoughts on Haiti?" [syn: opinion]
Main Entry: sen·ti·ment Pronunciation: 'sent-&-m&nt Function: noun 1: an attitude, thought, or judgment colored or prompted by
feeling or emotion 2:EMOTION 2, FEELING
2
Feel"ing\, n. 1. The sense by which the mind, through certain nerves of the body, perceives external objects, or certain states of the body itself; that one of the five senses which resides in the general nerves of sensation distributed over the body, especially in its surface; the sense of touch; nervous sensibility to external objects. Why was the sight To such a tender ball as the eye confined, . . . And not, as feeling, through all parts diffused? --Milton. 2. An act or state of perception by the sense above described; an act of apprehending any object whatever; an act or state of apprehending the state of the soul itself; consciousness. The apprehension of the good Gives but the greater feeling to the worse. --Shak. 3. The capacity of the soul for emotional states; a high degree of susceptibility to emotions or states of the sensibility not dependent on the body; as, a man of feeling; a man destitute of feeling. 4. Any state or condition of emotion; the exercise of the capacity for emotion; any mental state whatever; as, a right or a wrong feeling in the heart; our angry or kindly feelings; a feeling of pride or of humility. A fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind. --Garrick. Tenderness for the feelings of others. --Macaulay. 5. That quality of a work of art which embodies the mental emotion of the artist, and is calculated to affect similarly the spectator. --Fairholt. Syn: Sensation; emotion; passion; sentiment; agitation; opinion. See Emotion, Passion, Sentiment.
O*pin"ion\, n. [F., from L. opinio. See Opine.]1. That which is opined; a notion or conviction founded on probable evidence; belief stronger than impression, less strong than positive knowledge; settled judgment in regard to any point of knowledge or action. Opinion is when the assent of the understanding is so far gained by evidence of probability, that it rather inclines to one persussion than to another, yet not without a mixture of incertainty or doubting. --Sir M. Hale. I can not put off my opinion so easily. --Shak. 2. The judgment or sentiment which the mind forms of persons or things; estimation. I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people. --Shak. Friendship . . . gives a man a peculiar right and claim to the good opinion of his friend. --South. However, I have no opinion of those things. --Bacon. 3. Favorable estimation; hence, consideration; reputation; fame; public sentiment or esteem. [Obs.] Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion. --Shak. This gained Agricola much opinion, who . . . had made such early progress into laborious . . . enterprises. --Milton. 4. Obstinacy in holding to one's belief or impression; opiniativeness; conceitedness. [Obs.] --Shak. 5. (Law.) The formal decision, or expression of views, of a judge, an umpire, a counselor, or other party officially called upon to consider and decide upon a matter or point submitted. To be of opinion, to think; to judge. To hold opinion with, to agree with. [Obs.] --Shak. Syn: Sentiment; notion; persuasion; idea; view; estimation. See Sentiment.
Sen"ti*ment\, n. [OE. sentement, OF. sentement, F. sentiment, fr. L. sentire to perceive by the senses and mind, to feel, to think. See Sentient, a.]1. A thought prompted by passion or feeling; a state of mind in view of some subject; feeling toward or respecting some person or thing; disposition prompting to action or expression. The word sentiment, agreeably to the use made of it by our best English writers, expresses, in my own opinion very happily, those complex determinations of the mind which result from the co["o]peration of our rational powers and of our moral feelings. --Stewart. Alike to council or the assembly came, With equal souls and sentiments the same. --Pope. 2. Hence, generally, a decision of the mind formed by deliberation or reasoning; thought; opinion; notion; judgment; as, to express one's sentiments on a subject. Sentiments of philosophers about the perception of external objects. --Reid. Sentiment, as here and elsewhere employed by Reid in the meaning of opinion (sententia), is not to be imitated. --Sir W. Hamilton. 3. A sentence, or passage, considered as the expression of a thought; a maxim; a saying; a toast. 4. Sensibility; feeling; tender susceptibility. Mr. Hume sometimes employs (after the manner of the French metaphysicians) sentiment as synonymous with feeling; a use of the word quite unprecedented in our tongue. --Stewart. Less of sentiment than sense. --Tennyson. Syn: Thought; opinion; notion; sensibility; feeling. Usage: Sentiment, Opinion, Feeling. An opinion is an intellectual judgment in respect to any and every kind of truth. Feeling describes those affections of pleasure and pain which spring from the exercise of our sentient and emotional powers. Sentiment (particularly in the plural) lies between them, denoting settled opinions or principles in regard to subjects which interest the feelings strongly, and are presented more or less constantly in practical life. Hence, it is more appropriate to speak of our religious sentiments than opinions, unless we mean to exclude all reference to our feelings. The word sentiment, in the singular, leans ordinarily more to the side of feeling, and denotes a refined sensibility on subjects affecting the heart. "On questions of feeling, taste, observation, or report, we define our sentiments. On questions of science, argument, or metaphysical abstraction, we define our opinions. The sentiments of the heart. The opinions of the mind . . . There is more of instinct in sentiment, and more of definition in opinion. The admiration of a work of art which results from first impressions is classed with our sentiments; and, when we have accounted to ourselves for the approbation, it is classed with our opinions." --W. Taylor.
Sen"ti*ment\, n. [OE. sentement, OF. sentement, F. sentiment, fr. L. sentire to perceive by the senses and mind, to feel, to think. See Sentient, a.]1. A thought prompted by passion or feeling; a state of mind in view of some subject; feeling toward or respecting some person or thing; disposition prompting to action or expression. The word sentiment, agreeably to the use made of it by our best English writers, expresses, in my own opinion very happily, those complex determinations of the mind which result from the co["o]peration of our rational powers and of our moral feelings. --Stewart. Alike to council or the assembly came, With equal souls and sentiments the same. --Pope. 2. Hence, generally, a decision of the mind formed by deliberation or reasoning; thought; opinion; notion; judgment; as, to express one's sentiments on a subject. Sentiments of philosophers about the perception of external objects. --Reid. Sentiment, as here and elsewhere employed by Reid in the meaning of opinion (sententia), is not to be imitated. --Sir W. Hamilton. 3. A sentence, or passage, considered as the expression of a thought; a maxim; a saying; a toast. 4. Sensibility; feeling; tender susceptibility. Mr. Hume sometimes employs (after the manner of the French metaphysicians) sentiment as synonymous with feeling; a use of the word quite unprecedented in our tongue. --Stewart. Less of sentiment than sense. --Tennyson. Syn: Thought; opinion; notion; sensibility; feeling. Usage: Sentiment, Opinion, Feeling. An opinion is an intellectual judgment in respect to any and every kind of truth. Feeling describes those affections of pleasure and pain which spring from the exercise of our sentient and emotional powers. Sentiment (particularly in the plural) lies between them, denoting settled opinions or principles in regard to subjects which interest the feelings strongly, and are presented more or less constantly in practical life. Hence, it is more appropriate to speak of our religious sentiments than opinions, unless we mean to exclude all reference to our feelings. The word sentiment, in the singular, leans ordinarily more to the side of feeling, and denotes a refined sensibility on subjects affecting the heart. "On questions of feeling, taste, observation, or report, we define our sentiments. On questions of science, argument, or metaphysical abstraction, we define our opinions. The sentiments of the heart. The opinions of the mind . . . There is more of instinct in sentiment, and more of definition in opinion. The admiration of a work of art which results from first impressions is classed with our sentiments; and, when we have accounted to ourselves for the approbation, it is classed with our opinions." --W. Taylor.
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