sentimentalizing
Adding false sweetness
Sentimentalizing is treating something with excessive emotion or nostalgia, often at the expense of accuracy or clear-headedness.
To sentimentalize the past is to remember it as better than it was: The film sentimentalizes small-town life.
The word usually carries a critical edge—implying that feeling has crowded out thinking.
Portraying as more appealing
- wistfulSadly longing for something
- reminiscenceRecalling past experiences
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
- longingIntense, persistent desire
bittersweet · sepia-toned · rose-tinted · bygone · yesteryear · memory · retrospective · homesick
Portray as more appealing
- glorifyingPraising to excess
- embellishingAdding decorative details
- whitewashingConcealing unpleasant facts
- prettifyingMaking more visually pleasing
fairy-tale · sugarcoating · mythologizing · starry-eyed · rose-colored · wishful · distorting · exaggerating
Excessively tearful sentiment
- schmaltzyExcessively and insincerely sentimental
- syrupyExcessively sweet or sentimental
- overwroughtExcessively emotional or elaborate
- weepyInclined to cry
lachrymose · sappiness · pathos · sentimentality · touchy-feely · melodramatic · gushing · treacly
romanticizing
Portraying as more appealing
- wistfulSadly longing for something
- reminiscenceRecalling past experiences
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
longing · bittersweet · sepia-toned · rose-tinted · bygone · yesteryear · memory · retrospective · homesick · hiraeth
romanticize
Portray as more appealing
- glorifyingPraising to excess
- embellishingAdding decorative details
- whitewashingConcealing unpleasant facts
prettifying · fairy-tale · sugarcoating · mythologizing · starry-eyed · rose-colored · wishful · distorting · exaggerating · fantasy
maudlin
Excessively tearful sentiment
- schmaltzyExcessively and insincerely sentimental
- syrupyExcessively sweet or sentimental
- overwroughtExcessively emotional or elaborate
weepy · lachrymose · sappiness · pathos · sentimentality · touchy-feely · melodramatic · gushing · treacly · cloying
sentimentalizingdismissing
Removing from position
scorning · dehumanizing · brutalizing · demonizing · vilifying
sentimentalizingdemystifying
Explaining something seemingly complex
deglamorizing · disenchanting · reckoning with · scrutinizing
sentimentalizingcritiquing
Examining and judging quality
satirizing · exposing · debunking · deflating · undermining
sensitive, consent, sensation, sentimental, resentment, sentiment, resent, sentient, dissent