sentimentalization
Making overly tender
Sentimentalization is the act of making something more emotional or nostalgic than it actually is, often by glossing over harsh realities: The film's sentimentalization of poverty ignores its true hardships.
The word usually carries a critical edge, suggesting the emotion is excessive or unearned.
Excessively tearful sentiment
- schmaltzyExcessively and insincerely sentimental
- mushySoft or saccharine
- sappinessExcessive maudlin sentiment
- weepyInclined to cry
gushy · tearjerker · melodramatic · overemotional · syrupy · lachrymose · touchy-feely · heartstrings
Portraying as more appealing
- wistfulnessTender sadness for absence
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
- longingIntense, persistent desire
- reminiscenceRecalling past experiences
retrospection · bygone · yesteryear · rose-tinted · sepia-toned · memories · homesickness · melancholy
Elevating praise or worship
- romanticizationPortraying as more appealing
- mythologizingMaking legendary or sacred
- idolizationExtreme reverent admiration
- venerationProfound admiring respect
hero-worship · lionization · pedestal · overrating · halo effect · beautification · whitewashing · sanitizing
Excessive emotional amplification
- overstatementClaim beyond the facts
- embellishmentDecorative addition or exaggeration
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
- amplificationIncrease in intensity
magnification · overemphasis · inflation · excess · overkill · distortion · stretching · elaboration
maudlin
Excessively tearful sentiment
- schmaltzyExcessively and insincerely sentimental
- mushySoft or saccharine
- sappinessExcessive maudlin sentiment
weepy · gushy · tearjerker · melodramatic · overemotional · syrupy · lachrymose · touchy-feely · heartstrings · pathos
romanticizing
Portraying as more appealing
- wistfulnessTender sadness for absence
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
- longingIntense, persistent desire
reminiscence · retrospection · bygone · yesteryear · rose-tinted · sepia-toned · memories · homesickness · melancholy · recollection
glorification
Elevating praise or worship
- romanticizationPortraying as more appealing
- mythologizingMaking legendary or sacred
- idolizationExtreme reverent admiration
veneration · hero-worship · lionization · pedestal · overrating · halo effect · beautification · whitewashing · sanitizing · airbrushing
overdramatization
Excessive emotional amplification
- overstatementClaim beyond the facts
- embellishmentDecorative addition or exaggeration
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
amplification · magnification · overemphasis · inflation · excess · overkill · distortion · stretching · elaboration · flourish
- Romanticizingidealization, glorification, nostalgia, rose-tinted, prettifying
sentimentalizationhardening
Becoming less soft
toughening · emotional detachment · cold treatment · dispassion · coolness
sentimentalizationdemythologization
Removing supernatural from narratives
unvarnished truth · brutalization · disillusionment · brutal honesty · gritty realism
sentimental, sentiment, sentiments, unsentimental, sentimentality, sentimentalism, sentimentalist, sentimentally, sentimentalize