Sentimentality is excessive emotion that feels forced or exaggerated rather than genuine. When someone is being sentimental, they're expressing feelings that seem too sweet, too sad, or too nostalgic for the situation. Think of a movie that tries so hard to make you cry with sad music and slow motion that you roll your eyes instead of feeling moved.

The difference between real emotion and sentimentality matters. When you genuinely miss your grandmother and feel sad thinking about her, that's authentic emotion. But if someone keeps sighing loudly and saying “Oh, those were the days!” every time they see an old photograph, trying to make everyone feel how deeply they feel things, that veers into sentimentality.

Writers and artists work hard to avoid sentimentality because it makes their work feel cheap or manipulative. A story about a lost puppy can be genuinely touching, or it can be sentimental if the author piles on too many tearful moments and tragic details. The writer is trying too hard to force feelings rather than letting them develop naturally.

People sometimes enjoy a little sentimentality anyway. A sentimental birthday card covered in hearts and flowers might be exactly what someone wants, even if it's not sophisticated. But when something becomes too sentimental, it loses its power to create real emotional connection.