Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A generalized feeling of resentment and often hostility harbored by one individual or group against another, especially chronically and with no means of direct expression.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun philosophy, psychology A sense of resentment, hostility and perhaps jealousy directed at that which one identifies as the cause of one's frustration; an assignation of blame.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, resentment, from Old French ressentement, from resentir, to feel strongly; see resent.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French

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Examples

  • Chestnut tresses, once close-cut and well-kempt, fall almost to his shoulders which slump in ressentiment: * to every hair however stray, those shoulders seem to say, Halt!

    wine maker 2010

  • I don’t know whether this is true or not, but it does seem a little odd to see Jonah saying it given how utterly, undisguisedly saturated in ressentiment contemporary conservative rhetoric is.

    What, You Think Yer (Hic) Better’n Me or Sumfin? 2007

  • Nietzsche called this ressentiment which is commensurate with things like 'slave morality,' so you don't need me to give you a primer on Nietzsche to know that it's bad, and it is, apparently, flourishing in the blogosphere.

    Blog-Bashing Spelling Fascist Meanies: Turn Back Now 2006

  • Nietzsche called this ressentiment which is commensurate with things like 'slave morality,' so you don't need me to give you a primer on Nietzsche to know that it's bad, and it is, apparently, flourishing in the blogosphere.

    Archive 2006-03-05 2006

  • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~French Vocabulary~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ un échantillon (m) = sample; le ressentiment (m) = resentment; oui ... oui chéri (e) = yes ... yes dear

    wine maker 2010

  • Similarly, at the core of what Nietzsche meant by evil was the concept of ressentiment--a particularly virulent and violent form of resentment and hatred born of impotence.

    Robert D. Stolorow: The Meaning and the Rhetoric of Evil: Auschwitz and Bin Laden Robert D. Stolorow 2011

  • On second thought, this still may qualify as privileged white boy ressentiment.

    Wonk Room » Differing Views On A Settlement Freeze 2009

  • But there's something contemptible about those who knowingly channel ressentiment against the vulnerable few who are trying to call attention to its real causes.

    Jim Sleeper: Behind The Snarking About OWS Jim Sleeper 2011

  • The purpose of the eternal recurrence is to eliminate feelings of guilt, which lead to ressentiment.

    Matthew Yglesias » Eternal Recurrence 2010

  • When the Republican party no longer becomes a party authoritarian obediance and ressentiment, this will change.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Not-Conservatives Strike Back 2009

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