feeling
[noun]
Synonyms:
- emotion, ardour, fervour, intensity, passion, sentiment, warmth
- impression, hunch, idea, inkling, notion, presentiment, sense, suspicion
- opinion, inclination, instinct, point of view, view
- sympathy, compassion, concern, empathy, pity, sensibility, sensitivity, understanding
- sense of touch, perception, sensation
- atmosphere, air, ambience, aura, feel, mood, quality

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Antonyms: unfeeling
Contrasted words: apathy, indifference, insensibility, numbness, numb, unmoved, unresponsive
Related Words: action, behavior, reaction, responsiveness, palpability, palpableness, perceptibility, perceptibleness, tangibility, tangibleness, humor, mood, temper, vein, attitude, outlook, belief, opinion, view, concept, idea, impression, notion, thought, impress, imprint

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. feel‧ing¹ S1 W1 /ˈfiːlɪŋ/ noun
[Word Family: noun: feel, feeling, feelings; verb: feel; adjective: unfeeling]

1. ANGER/SADNESS/JOY ETC [countable] an emotion that you feel, such as anger, sadness, or happiness:
Knowing we'd won was a wonderful feeling.
feeling of
a terrible feeling of guilt

2. WAY SOMEBODY THINKS/FEELS feelings [plural] someone’s feelings are their thoughts, emotions, and attitudes:
He’s considerate of other people’s feelings.

3. OPINION [countable] a belief or opinion about something, especially one that is influenced by your emotions:
My personal feeling is that not enough has been done.
feeling on
She has strong feelings on the issue of abortion.
feeling about
a survey on people’s feelings about the candidates
His gut feeling (=opinion based on emotion) was that Burns was probably guilty.
I had this funny feeling (=not easily explained) that something was wrong.

4. have/get the feeling (that) to think that something is probably true, or will probably happen
have/get the feeling (that) (that)
Leslie suddenly got the feeling that somebody was watching her.
He had a sneaking feeling (=a slight feeling that something is true, without being sure) that they were laughing at him.
Gary had a sinking feeling (=had a sudden bad feeling that something was true) that he was making a mistake.
have/get the feeling (that) about
I have a good feeling about this. I think it’s going to work.

5. GENERAL ATTITUDE [uncountable] a general attitude among a group of people about a subject:
the anti-American feeling in the region
feeling against/in favour of
Johnson underestimated the strength of public feeling against the war.
the depth of feeling against nuclear weapons

6. HEAT/COLD/PAIN ETC [countable] something that you feel in your body, such as heat, cold, tiredness etc:
I keep getting this funny feeling (=a strange feeling) in my neck.
feeling of
feelings of dizziness

7. ABILITY TO FEEL [uncountable] the ability to feel pain, heat etc in part of your body:
Harry had lost all feeling in his toes.

8. EFFECT OF A PLACE/BOOK ETC [singular] the effect that a place, book, film etc has on people and the way it makes them feel
feeling of
the town’s strong feeling of history
It gives a feeling of eating outdoors, without having to worry about being rained on.

9. I know the feeling spoken said when you understand how someone feels because you have had the same experience:
‘It’s so embarrassing when you can’t remember someone’s name.’ ‘I know the feeling.’

10. the feeling is mutual spoken said when you have the same feeling about someone as they have towards you:
My dad hated my boyfriend, and the feeling was mutual.

11. bad/ill feeling anger, lack of trust etc between people, especially after an argument or unfair decision:
The changes have caused a lot of ill feeling among the workforce.

12. with feeling in a way that shows you feel very angry, happy etc:
Chang spoke with great feeling about the injustices of the regime.

13. a feeling for something
a) an ability to do something or understand a subject, which you get from experience:
an orchestra that has always shown a special feeling for Brahms’ music
b) a natural ability to do something Synonym : talent:
He has a natural feeling for mathematical ideas.

14. EMOTIONS NOT THOUGHT [uncountable] a way of reacting to things using your emotions, instead of thinking about them carefully:
The Romantic writers valued feeling above all else.
⇒ no hard feelings at hard¹(19), ⇒ hurt sb’s feelings at hurt¹(4)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. feeling² adjective
showing strong feelings:
a feeling look
—feelingly adverb

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

feeling
noun
I. sth that you feel/sense/believe
ADJ. strong | definite, distinct | nagging, sneaking/sneaky, vague I had a nagging feeling that I had forgotten something.
glorious, good, great, marvellous, warm, wonderful It was a good feeling to be arriving home again.
horrible, nasty, queasy, sick, sinking, terrible, tight, uncomfortable, uneasy He suddenly had a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. I've got a tight feeling in my stomach.
guilty | curious, eerie, odd, peculiar, strange | gut, instinctive My gut feeling was that we couldn't trust her.
general, popular, public The general feeling of the meeting was against the decision.
VERB + FEELING feel, get, have He felt a wonderful warm feeling come over him. Do you get the feeling that we're not welcome here?
give sb, leave sb with She was left with the feeling that he did not care.
know (informal) ‘I really resent the way he treated me.’ ‘I know the feeling (= I know how you feel).’
arouse, evoke, inspire a case that has aroused strong public feeling
FEELING + VERB come over sb | be mutual ‘I'm going to miss you.’ ‘The feeling's mutual (= I feel exactly the same).’
PREP. ~ about I don't have any strong feelings about it one way or the other.
~ of a feeling of excitement
~ on What are your feelings on this issue?

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

feeling
II. feelings: emotions
ADJ. deep, intense, strong | ambivalent, mixed I had mixed feelings about meeting them again.
positive, warm | hostile, negative | hurt, injured | inner, innermost, real, true | pent-up releasing her pent-up feelings
personal | religious | sexual
VERB + FEELING experience, harbour, have, suffer She experienced a whole range of feelings. He still harboured feelings of resentment. She was lucky that she had suffered no more than hurt feelings.
express, give vent to, release, show, vent He finds it difficult to express his feelings. I finally gave vent to my feelings and started yelling at him.
articulate, describe, discuss, talk about discussing his innermost feelings with me
bottle up, hide, mask, repress, suppress trying to hide her true feelings
banish He was determined to banish all feelings of guilt.
hurt I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings.
spare We didn't tell Jane because we wanted to spare her feelings.
arouse, engender, evoke, inspire The debate aroused strong feelings on both sides.
heighten It was the practical aspect of life that heightened her feelings of loneliness and loss.
understand | reciprocate, return Although she did not reciprocate his feelings, she did not discourage him.
FEELING + VERB come into sth Personal feelings don't come into it?we have to do what's right.
run high Feelings were running high (= people were very angry or excited)as the meeting continued.
PREP. ~ for It makes no difference to my feelings for you.
~ of his feelings of grief
~ towards her feelings of anger towards him
PHRASES no hard feelings (informal) Someone's got to lose. No hard feelings, Dave, eh?

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

feeling
III. understanding/sensitivity
ADJ. great, wonderful
VERB + FEELING have | develop He had developed a feeling for when not to disturb her.
PREP. with ~ She spoke with feeling about the plight of the homeless.
~ for She has a wonderful feeling for colour.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

feeling
IV. sympathy/love
VERB + FEELING have You have no feeling for the sufferings of others.
PREP. ~ for She still had a lot of feeling for David.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

feeling
V. anger
ADJ. bad, ill
VERB + FEELING cause, create, lead to | stir up
PREP. ~ against Their aim was to stir up feeling against the war.
~ between There was a lot of bad feeling between the two groups of students.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

feeling
VI. ability to feel physically
VERB + FEELING lose | regain
PREP. ~ in After the accident he lost all feeling in his legs.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

feeling
VII. atmosphere
VERB + FEELING create, recreate They have managed to recreate the feeling of the original theatre.
PREP. ~ of Light colours create a feeling of spaciousness.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

feeling

a good/great/wonderful etc feeling
It's a great feeling when you try something new and it works.
deep
A deep feeling of sadness came over her.
strong/intense
There was a strong feeling of anger among the workers.
experience a feeling
I remember experiencing a feeling of tremendous excitement.
give somebody a feeling
My work gives me a feeling of achievement.
arouse a feeling (=cause it)
The music aroused a feeling of calm within him.
hurt somebody's feelings (=make someone feel upset)
I hope I didn't hurt your feelings.
hide your feelings
She could no longer hide her feelings.
show your feelings
I know you find it embarrassing to show your feelings.
express your feelings (also put your feelings into words) (=tell other people what you are feeling or thinking)
Children sometimes find it difficult to put their feelings into words.
have mixed feelings (=have both positive and negative feelings)
Her parents had mixed feelings about the marriage.
feelings are running high (=people have strong feelings, especially of anger)
It was the last game of the season, and feelings were running high.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

feeling
noun
1.
BAD: The meeting provided a good opportunity for her to express her feeling.
GOOD: The meeting provided a good opportunity for her to express her feelings.

Usage Note:
feelings (plural) = what you think or feel about something: 'My own feelings are that the marriage won't last more than a year.' 'Why does he always try to hide his feelings?'

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2.
BAD: As it got colder, my fingers lost feeling.
GOOD: As it got colder, my fingers went numb.

Usage Note:
go numb = (of a part of your body) lose the ability to feel anything: 'While we were waiting for my jaw to go numb, the dentist told me about his holiday.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲