feeling

1 /'fi:lIN/ noun

1 ANGER/SADNESS/JOY ETC (C) something that you feel such as anger, sadness, or happiness

(+ of): She suddenly had a great feeling of relief. | Feelings of guilt are common in such cases. | It's a wonderful feeling to be back home again. | the feeling's mutual (=used to say that you have the same feeling about someone as they have about you): “I don't ever want to see you again.” “The feeling's mutual.” | feelings are running high (=people are very angry or excited): It was the last game of the season, and feelings were running high.

2 OPINION (C) what you think and feel about a situation: My own personal feeling is that we should be very careful.

(+ on): What are your feelings on the issue of abortion? (+ about): I think I've already made my feelings about this perfectly clear. | have mixed feelings (=not be sure what you feel or think): Parents often have mixed feelings about their children leaving home.

3 have/get the feeling (that) to think that something is probably true, or will probably happen: Leslie suddenly got the feeling that somebody was watching her. | I've got a horrible feeling I forgot to turn off the cooker.

4 GENERAL ATTITUDE (U) a general attitude among a group of people about a subject

(+ against/in favour of): Johnson underestimated the strength of public feeling against the war in Vietnam.

5 HEAT/COLD/PAIN ETC (C) 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. | feelings of dizziness.

6 ABILITY TO FEEL (U) the ability to feel pain, heat etc in part of your body: Herzog had lost all feeling in his toes.

7 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: Glastonbury has a great feeling of history about it.

8 I know the feeling spoken used to say that 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.”

9 bad/ill feeling anger, lack of trust etc between people, especially after an argument or unfair decision: The recent rail strikes have caused a lot of ill feeling.

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

11 a feeling (for)

a) an ability to do something or understand a subject, which you get from experience: It's difficult to explain - you just get this feeling for it.

b) a natural ability to do something: She has a real feeling for the violin.

12 EMOTIONS NOT THOUGHT (U) a way of reacting to things using your emotions, instead of thinking about them carefully: The Romantic writers valued feeling above all else.

—see also: no hard feelings hard 1 (26), hurt sb's feelings hurt 1 (5) 2 adjective showing strong feelings: a feeling look — feelingly adverb