ressentiment

ressentiment

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

• (US) enPR: rə-säɴ'tē-mäɴʹ, IPA^(key): /ɹəˌsɑ̃.tiˈmɑ̃/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹɛˌsɒ̃tɪˈmɒ̃/

Noun

ressentiment (countable and uncountable, plural ressentiments)

1. Obsolete form of resentment. [17th–18th c.]
2. (chiefly philosophy, social psychology) A sense of resentment arising from suppressed feelings of envy and hatred, often leading to a frustrated sense of inferiority, with various social repercussions. [from 19th c.]
   • 1973, Philippa Foot, "Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values" in Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Robert C. Solomon, Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, p. 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 2012, p. 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

Chinese: Mandarin: 無名怨憤／无名怨愤 (wúmíng yuànfèn), 無名怨忿／无名怨忿 (wúmíng yuànfèn), 怨恨 (zh) (yuànhèn) Dutch: verontwaardiging (nl) f,vrevel f,wrok (nl) f Finnish: kauna (fi) French: ressentiment (fr) m Japanese: 怨念 (ja) (おんねん, onnen), 恨み (うらみ, urami) Russian: злопыха́тельство (ru) n (zlopyxátelʹstvo), озлобле́ние (ru) n (ozloblénije)

Further reading

• ressentiment at 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
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “resentiment; resentment”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, volume IV, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 1078064371, page 5100, column 2.

Anagrams

• resentiments

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French

Etymology

From ressentir +‎ -ment, verbal root re- +‎ sentir from Old French sentir from Latin sentiō, sentīre (“to feel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.sɑ̃.ti.mɑ̃/

• Audio (FR)

  (file)

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

Noun

ressentiment m (plural ressentiments)

1. ressentiment, resentment

Further reading

• “ressentiment”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.