sentimentalism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an excessive or uncritical reliance on tender emotion, especially at the expense of reason or realism

   The critic objected to the film's sentimentalism, arguing that it softened the harsh facts of the story.

2. 2
   noun

   a view in ethics, philosophy, or art that gives feeling and sentiment a central role

   Moral sentimentalism holds that ethical judgment is grounded partly in human feeling.

Formed from sentimental + -ism in the early nineteenth century. It first named a disposition or artistic tendency that privileged tender feeling, often excessively, and later also became a label for philosophical theories that ground judgment in sentiment.

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