feeling: Meaning and Definition of

feel•ing

Pronunciation: (fē'ling), [key]
— n.
  1. the function or the power of perceiving by touch.
  2. physical sensation not connected with sight, hearing, taste, or smell.
  3. a particular sensation of this kind: a feeling of warmth; a feeling of pain.
  4. the general state of consciousness considered independently of particular sensations, thoughts, etc.
  5. a consciousness or vague awareness: a feeling of inferiority.
  6. an emotion or emotional perception or attitude: a feeling of joy; a feeling of sorrow.
  7. capacity for emotion, esp. compassion: to have great feeling for the sufferings of others.
  8. a sentiment; attitude; opinion: The general feeling was in favor of the proposal.
  9. sensibilities; susceptibilities: to hurt one's feelings.
  10. fine emotional endowment.
  11. (in music, art, etc.) a poem without feeling.
    1. emotion or sympathetic perception revealed by an artist in his or her work:a poem without feeling.
    2. the general impression conveyed by a work:a landscape painting with a spacious feeling.
    3. sympathetic appreciation, as of music:to play with feeling.
—adj.
  1. sensitive; sentient.
  2. readily affected by emotion; sympathetic: a feeling heart.
  3. indicating or characterized by emotion: a feeling reply to the charge.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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