emotionalismn.
/ᵻˈməʊʃn̩əlɪz(ə)m/, /ᵻˈməʊʃn̩l̩ɪz(ə)m/, /ᵻˈməʊʃənl̩ɪz(ə)m/, /ᵻˈməʊʃ(ə)nəlɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /əˈmoʊʃənlˌɪz(ə)m/, /əˈmoʊʃn̩əˌlɪz(ə)m/, /iˈmoʊʃənlˌɪz(ə)m/, /iˈmoʊʃn̩əˌlɪz(ə)m/ Emotional character or behaviour; esp. the tendency to indulge in or yield to emotion.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > sentimentality > [noun]
sentiment1747
sentimentality1770
mawkishness1796
sensiblerie1815
sentimentalism1818
sloppiness1828
morbidezza1833
milk-and-wateriness1834
maudlin1838
soothing syrup1839
emotionalism1846
stickiness1864
slop1866
mushiness1868
saccharinity1868
sympatheticism1884
hearts and flowers1911
lovey-doveyness1923
schmaltz1934
goop1950
goo1951
schmaltziness1953
gloop1957
cheesiness1963
soupiness1963
soft-centredness1967
soppiness1974
1846 Q. Rev. Sept. 395 She professes to dispense with the..unspiritual agitations of the animal spirits, the emotionalism, if we may speak, of the other.
1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 Nov. 112 Lively emotionalism is his special characteristic.
1869 Spectator 17 Apr. 475/1 Overstrained, and consciously indulged and petted bits of sentimentalism..passing the verge of maudlin emotionalism.
1923 R. Macaulay Told by Idiot iv. 296 It was a queer affair, born of the emotionalism and sensation-seeking that beset many people at that time.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day i. 18 Having that strange Anglo-Irish blend of reticence and emotionalism.
2002 NFT Programme Booklet (National Film Theatre) Apr. 26/1 The film balances the fraught emotionalism of a ‘woman's picture’ with a sober documentary-style approach.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1846