SENSATIONALISM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sensationalism mean? 

• SENSATIONALISM (noun)
  The noun SENSATIONALISM has 4 senses:

1. subject matter that is calculated to excite and please vulgar tastes

2. the journalistic use of subject matter that appeals to vulgar tastes

3. (philosophy) the ethical doctrine that feeling is the only criterion for what is good

4. (philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience

  Familiarity information: SENSATIONALISM used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SENSATIONALISM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Subject matter that is calculated to excite and please vulgar tastes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sensationalism" is a kind of...):

content; message; subject matter; substance (what a communication that is about something is about)

Attribute:

sensational (causing intense interest, curiosity, or emotion)

unsensational (not of such character as to arouse intense interest, curiosity, or emotional reaction)

Derivation:

sensationalist (someone who uses exaggerated or lurid material in order to gain public attention)

sensationalistic (typical of tabloids)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The journalistic use of subject matter that appeals to vulgar tastes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

luridness; sensationalism

Context example:

the tabloids relied on sensationalism to maintain their circulation

Hypernyms ("sensationalism" is a kind of...):

journalese (the style in which newspapers are written)

Derivation:

sensationalist (someone who uses exaggerated or lurid material in order to gain public attention)

sensationalistic (typical of tabloids)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(philosophy) the ethical doctrine that feeling is the only criterion for what is good

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

sensationalism; sensualism

Hypernyms ("sensationalism" is a kind of...):

philosophical doctrine; philosophical theory (a doctrine accepted by adherents to a philosophy)

Domain category:

philosophy (the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

empiricism; empiricist philosophy; sensationalism

Hypernyms ("sensationalism" is a kind of...):

philosophical doctrine; philosophical theory (a doctrine accepted by adherents to a philosophy)

Domain category:

philosophy (the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sensationalism"):

British empiricism (the predominant philosophical tradition in Great Britain since the 17th century)

experimentalism (an empirical doctrine that advocates experimental principles)

logical positivism; positivism (the form of empiricism that bases all knowledge on perceptual experience (not on intuition or revelation))

 Context examples 

“And yet,” said I, smiling, “I cannot quite hold myself absolved from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my records.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In choosing a few typical cases which illustrate the remarkable mental qualities of my friend, Sherlock Holmes, I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to select those which presented the minimum of sensationalism, while offering a fair field for his talents.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At the same time, he remarked after a pause, during which he had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, at all.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)