SENTIMENT
opinion, sentiment, persuasion, view, thought
(noun) 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?”
sentiment
(noun) tender, romantic, or nostalgic feeling or emotion
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
sentiment (countable and uncountable, plural sentiments)
A general thought, feeling, or sense.
(uncountable) Feelings, especially tender feelings, as apart from reason or judgment, or of a weak or foolish kind.
Source: Wiktionary
Sen"ti*ment, n. Etym: [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 coöperation
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.
– 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition