Word.ws English Dictionary

ressentiment

UK/ɹɛˌsɒ̃tɪˈmɒ̃/US/ɹəˌsɑ̃.tiˈmɑ̃/

ressentiment noun: a sense of resentment arising from deep-seated feelings of envy or hatred, leading the resentful one to blame it on an external agent. Also the obsolete form of resentment.

Noun

ressentiment (countable and uncountable, plural ressentiments)

  1. (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.
    • 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...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
    • 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.ibidem, page 167

Also used as

ressentiment is also the obsolete form of resentment.

Examples of ressentiment in a sentence

  • 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.1973, Philippa Foot, “Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values”, in Robert C. Solomon, Garden City, editors, Nietzsche: A Collection of...
  • 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.2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 632:
  • Those who subscribe to those “zombie ideas” are “suffering from ressentiment – a witches’ brew of resentment, bitterness, and rage that is causing them to hold mistaken values,” Andreessen wrote.2024 December 5, Brian Fung, “Trump’s latest nominees are a gift to his wealthiest crypto boosters”, in CNN Business, archived from the...

Forms of ressentiment

pluralressentiments

Origin of ressentiment

Borrowed 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.

Questions about ressentiment

What does ressentiment mean?
Ressentiment means a sense of resentment arising from deep-seated feelings of envy or hatred, leading the resentful one to blame it on an external agent.
How do you use ressentiment in a sentence?
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.
What part of speech is ressentiment?
Ressentiment is a noun.
How do you pronounce ressentiment?
Ressentiment is pronounced /ɹəˌsɑ̃.tiˈmɑ̃/ (US).
What is the plural of ressentiment?
The plural of ressentiment is ressentiments.

Words near ressentiment in the dictionary

  1. ressaldar
  2. ressaldars
  3. ressaut
  4. ressauts
  5. ressed
  6. ressentiment
  7. ressentiments
  8. resses
  9. Ressich
  10. ressie
  11. ressies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ressentiment (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “ressentiment.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ressentiment. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.