Apedia

Sententious Full Sen Ten Shus Adjective Pithy Expressions Pompous Moralizing

Front sententious \sen-TEN-shus\
Back adjective
1. Full of pithy expressions.
2. Full of pompous moralizing.

[From Middle English, from Latin sententiosus (full of meaning), from sententia (opinion), from sentire (to feel or to have an opinion). Some other words derived from the same root are: sense, sentence, sentiment, sentinel, assent, consent, dissent, resent.]

"I enjoyed every glowing frame of the leisurely trip, which is punctuated by sententious epigrams. ('Lies are dreams caught red-handed,' or 'Marriage is the perfect murder of love.')" - Joe Morgenstern; Film Review; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Aug 1, 2003.

"But 'The Reckoning,' like a great many medieval melodramas before it, a talky, sententious affair." - A.O. Scott; Seeking Human Truths Through the Stage; The New York Times; Mar 5, 2004.

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