ressentiment
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word ressentiment. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word ressentiment, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say ressentiment in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word ressentiment you have here. The definition of the word ressentiment will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofressentiment, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Ressentiment and resentiment
English
Etymology
From French ressentiment, from an archaic usage of the verb ressentir, via Old French sentir from Latin sentiō, sentīre (“to feel”); in the second sense a semantic loan from German Ressentiment. Doublet of resentiment and resentment.
Pronunciation
Noun
ressentiment (countable and uncountable, plural ressentiments)
- Obsolete form of resentment.
- (chiefly philosophy, social psychology) a sense of resentment arising from deep-seated feelings of envy or hatred, leading the resentful one to blame it on an external agent.
- 1973, Philippa Foot, “Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values”, in Robert C. Solomon, Garden City, editors, Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays, New York: Anchor Books, page 157:
- When the weak call the strong evil the move is not merely defensive; it is also an expression of that peculiar malice which Nietzsche referred to as ressentiment. Those who cultivate humility and the other propitiatory virtues to cloak their weakness nourish an envious resentment against those stronger than themselves.
- ibidem, page 167:
- If his attack on Christian morality and on other moralities is going to be worth anything he has got to be right about the effect of teaching pity and justice — that it merely hides the ressentiment of the weak while it does injury to the strong.
- 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 632:
- Historians such as Liah Greenfield and Daniel Chirot have attributed the major wars and genocides in the early decades of the 20th century to ressentiment in Germany and Russia.
Translations
obsolete: resentment — see resentment
resentment arising from envy and hatred
|
Further reading
- “ressentiment”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “ressentiment, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “resentiment”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “resentiment; resentment”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volume IV, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 5100, column 2.
Anagrams
French
Etymology
From ressentir + -ment, verbal root re- + sentir from Old French sentir from Latin sentiō, sentīre (“to feel”).
Pronunciation
Noun
ressentiment m (plural ressentiments)
Further reading
- “ressentiment”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.