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 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.
Hear it pronounced