Meanings
plural sentimentalities
- countableAn act or state of being sentimental.
Things that were implicit and largely unjudged in the book, filtered through layers of stiff-upper-lip irony — Fanny’s self-pity, Linda’s obliviousness — are now foregrounded and, for the most part, rendered banal, with “Beaches”-level platitudes and sentimentality.
2021 July 29, Mike Hale, “Review: ‘The Pursuit of Love’ Against All Odds”, in The New York Times
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of Empfindsamkeit.
More synonyms by meaning
nounfalsely emotional in a maudlin way
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*sent-
- Proto-Italic*sentiō
- Latinsentiō
- Latinsentimentum
- Old Frenchsentement
- Englishsentiment
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Englishsentimental
- Englishsentimentality
From sentimental + -ity. The music sense is a calque of German Empfindsamkeit.
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian сантименталност
- сантименталност (santimentalnost)act of being sentimental
Catalan sentimentalitat
- sentimentalitatact of being sentimental
Esperanto sentimentaleco
- sentimentalecoact of being sentimental
French sentimentalité, sensiblerie
- sentimentalitéact of being sentimental
- sensiblerieact of being sentimental
German Sentimentalität, Schmalz
- Sentimentalitätact of being sentimental
- Schmalzact of being sentimental
- Empfindsamkeitact of being sentimental
- Gefühlsseligkeitact of being sentimental
- Rührseligkeitact of being sentimental
Hindi भावुकता
- भावुकता (bhāvuktā)act of being sentimental
Hungarian érzelgősség, szentimentalitás
- érzelgősségact of being sentimental
- szentimentalitásact of being sentimental
Polish sentyment, sentymentalność
- sentymentact of being sentimental
- sentymentalnośćact of being sentimental
- uczuciowośćact of being sentimental
Romanian sentimentalitate
- sentimentalitateact of being sentimental
Russian сентимента́льность
- сентимента́льность (sentimentálʹnostʹ)act of being sentimental
Slovak sentimentalita
- sentimentalitaact of being sentimental
Spanish sentimentalidad
- sentimentalidadact of being sentimental
Turkish duygusallık, santimantalite
- duygusallıkact of being sentimental
- santimantaliteact of being sentimental
Cite this entry
sentimentality. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sentimentality
“sentimentality.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sentimentality. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sentimentality,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sentimentality.
Source: sentimentality on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.