I have read all the dictionaries and surfed the web to find out the nuance between the words: "sentimental" and "emotional", but I'm not able to explain their semantic difference if it comes to!
As a reply to a thread on stackexchange, mfe said:
Use sentimental to indicate mood, as in someone who reflects on his/her feelings.
Use emotional to indicate someone who reacts to events by expressing what he/she feels.
Sentimental connotes an internalized feeling, emotional an expressive one.
But actually I guess rarely non-native people would be able to use these two words in their correct places based on a simple definition.
So I wonder if you could provide me with some particular examples so that I could distinguish between these two.
Also I read about the adjective "sentimental" that mostly it is used to refer to the past memories.
A sentimental person is strongly influenced by emotional feelings, especially about happy memories of past events or relationships with other people, rather than by careful thought and judgment based on facts.
I would be greateful if you explain that to me.
Thank you.
Best Answer
"Sentiment" is a feeling toward a particular event or situation, or toward the past in general (e.g. nostalgia). It generally connotes a more subdued feeling, and something that is deeper and constant.
"Emotion" is more of a temporary or reactionary feeling (e.g. "how I am feeling at this moment"), connoting something more volatile and circumstantial.
By extension, when used to refer to a person, saying that someone is "sentimental" means that they have deep feelings about something, generally in a tender or subdued manner (internal).
Saying that someone is "emotional" generally means that they are prone to outward displays of emotions (external), or perhaps controlled by their feelings.