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/sɛnsˈeɪʃənəlˌɪzəm/ Listen

Sensationalism

noun

Subject matter that is calculated to excite and please vulgar tastes.

The journalistic use of subject matter that appeals to vulgar tastes. Synonym: luridness.

(philosophy) the ethical doctrine that feeling is the only criterion for what is good. Synonym: sensualism.

(philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience. Synonyms: empiricism, empiricist philosophy.

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Etymology of 'Sensationalism'

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"Sensationalism" Quotes from Famous Books

... was taking place at their very doors. Correspondents braved the yellow fever and imprisonment in order to furnish the last details of each new horror. Foremost in this work were William Randolph Hearst, who made new records of sensationalism in his papers, particularly in the New York Journal, and Joseph Pulitzer, proprietor of the New York World. Hearst is reported to have said that it cost him three millions to bring on the Spanish American War. The net result of all ...

— The Path of Empire - A Chronicle of the United States as a World Power, Volume - 46 in The Chronicles of America Series • Carl Russell Fish

... in the extravagant passion of the second story, but until sensationalism cloyed the public palate, realism was an unnecessary labor. By placing the events in some romantic country like Spain, Portugal, Italy, or even France, any narrative of excessive love could be made to pass current. The Latin countries were vaguely imagined ...

— The Life and Romances of Mrs. Eliza Haywood • George Frisbie Whicher

... and the action of the big guns absorbed the popular interest in every corner of the world. While the picturesque old-time war reporter has almost disappeared, the moving picture man has inherited all his courage, patience, sensationalism, and spirit ...

— The Photoplay - A Psychological Study • Hugo Muensterberg

... themselves idealists. Many have been induced to become "free-willists" because the name has suggested to them a proper regard for that freedom which is justly dear to all men. We can scarcely approach with an open mind an account of ideas and sensations which we hear described as "sensationalism," or worse yet, as "sensualism." When a given type of philosophy is set down as "dogmatism," we involuntarily feel a prejudice ...

— An Introduction to Philosophy • George Stuart Fullerton

... some small movement happens to favour one of the million things suggested by some great man; whereupon the great man is turned into the running slave of the small movement. Thus certain sectarian movements borrowed the sensationalism without the sacramentalism of Wesley. Thus certain groups of decadents found it easier to imitate De Quincey's opium than his eloquence. Unless we grasp this plain common sense (that you or I are not responsible ...

— The Victorian Age in Literature • G. K. Chesterton

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