feeling

n.

1. The sense of touch

   tactile sense, touch, tactility, digital sensibility, perception, tangibility.

2. State of the body, or of a part of it

   sense, sensation, consciousness, awareness, impression, sensibility, feel, sensitiveness, sensory response, perception, perceptiveness, perceptivity, susceptibility, receptivity, responsiveness, excitability, excitement, motility, activity, impressibility, titillation, enjoyment, sensuality, voluptuousness, reaction, shrinking, motor response, synesthesia, galvanism, reflex, contractibility, innervation, excitation.

   Antonyms numbness, anesthesia, insensibility.

3. A personal reaction

   opinion, sentiment, belief, outlook; see attitude 2, belief 1.

4. Sensitivity

   emotion, passion, sentiment, affect, tenderness, discrimination, delicacy, discernment, sentimentality, taste, refinement, capacity, faculty, judgment, affection, sympathy, empathy, compassion, pity, sensibility, susceptivity, intuition, keenness, sharpness, spirit, esprit (French), soul, heart, pathos, ardor, fervor, warmth, aesthetic sense, appreciation, response; see also emotion.

   Antonyms indifference, apathy, coldness, insensitivity.

5. A hunch

   premonition, foreboding, inkling, gut reaction*; see hunch 2.

6. A general emotional quality

   air, atmosphere, mood; see character 1, characteristic.

feeling, when unqualified in the context, refers to any of the subjective reactions, pleasant or unpleasant, that one may have to a situation and usually connotes an absence of reasoning I can't trust my own feelings; emotion implies an intense feeling, often with physical as well as mental manifestations the news aroused conflicting emotions in him; passion refers to a strong or overpowering emotion, connoting especially sexual love or intense anger; sentiment applies to a feeling, often a tender one, accompanied by some thought or reasoning what are your sentiments in this matter?