From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsentimentalsen‧ti‧ment‧al /ˌsentəˈmentl◂/ ●○○ adjective 1 EMOTIONALsomeone who is sentimental is easily affected by emotions such as love, sympathy, sadness etc, often in a way that seems silly to other people She said a sentimental goodbye.sentimental about People can be very sentimental about animals.2 EMOTIONALbased on or relating to your feelings rather than on practical reasons He wasn’t the sort of person who kept things for sentimental reasons. a sentimental journey to the place of his birth The rings that were stolen were of great sentimental value (=important because of your feelings or memories relating to them).3 AEMOTIONALa story, film, book etc that is sentimental deals with emotions such as love and sadness, sometimes in a way that seems silly and insincere a sentimental story set in Russia —sentimentally adverb
Examples from the Corpus
sentimental• Bill's loyalty to his apprentice had been ill rewarded this evening and no trainer could afford to be sentimental.• I quite enjoyed the movie but I thought the ending was a little sentimental.• A little goes a long way; too much is unbearably sentimental.• Anti-whalers are denounced as sentimental.• Ramos admitted he was sentimental about his old school and was sad to see it torn down.• My father became increasingly sentimental as he got older and his friends died off.• I suppose we get more sentimental as we grow older.• From the living room came the sound of a deep male voice singing a sentimental ballad.• Vladimir shook my hand and said a sentimental farewell.• This is fashionably dismissed as a sentimental modern aberration, but it is how I read the figure.• Employing only a cool curiosity, she had defended herself from sentimental pretences.• Westerberg writes unabashedly sentimental, romantic lyrics.• He is hardly a sentimental sap who is prone to vicarious patriotism.• It is the opinion of a sentimental tourist that no price would be too great to pay, the novelist declared.• Who wanted to get sentimental while eating?for sentimental reasons• I saw ffeatherstonehaugh's as a young man's club, and kept up my subscription purely for sentimental reasons.• I went back later and took out all the pictures for sentimental reasons.• Richard did not accumulate objects for sentimental reasons.• I let him keep young ones for sentimental reasons since I don't need them for practical purposes. 