Definition of: sensationalism

(sen·sā′shən·əl·iz′əm) noun
1. Philos. The theory that all knowledge originates in sensation, or is composed of transformed sense elements, that all consciousness is modified sensation, and all mental phenomena have a sensory basis: a branch of modern empiricism.
2. The use of melodramatic methods in writing or speaking.
3. The theory that feeling is the only criterion of good.
—sen·sa′tion·al·ist noun
—sen·sa′tion·al·is′tic adjective