These words refer to subjective or affective states of mind rather than to objective or rational attitudes. Emotion is the most general and neutral, including all states of mind from the slightest change in mood to the most intense or violent seizures: a wistful emotion that briefly clouded her eyes; a struggle within him of emotions so intense he would hardly speak. Feeling is similar to but more informal than emotion . It too can refer both to weak or intense states: a faint feeling of disgust at his proposition; Violent feelings broke out into full, ungovernable expression. Feeling , however, has a specific use to refer to a state of intense receptivity or expressivity: jurors who listened to her story with evident feeling ; trying to play the piano piece with more feeling . While emotion might occasionally be used in this way, it sounds less natural in such a context than feeling .

Passion may once have been used in a fairly neutral way to describe strong emotions of all varieties; now, however, it is more strictly limited to sexual feeling or obsessive emotions: a passion for his wife undimmed by the years; an absolute passion for seeking out the untravelled byways of a country. In the sense of obsessive preoccupation, the word has so frequently been used hyperbolically that its force has been somewhat dulled and made trivial: a passion for garlic pickles. In its sense of sexual feeling , it can seem antiquated or euphemistic: an unholy passion for the fair sex. Desire is now the preferred word for suggesting sexual feeling , but it can also refer to any feeling of wanting or needing something: a desire for the opposite sex that is first expressed by hair-pulling and practical jokes; a strong desire to see his native country once more before he died. In contexts where passion escapes the charge of fustiness, it would suggest a greater potential for action than desire .

• He was aware of the desire that had led him to call on her again, but he was surprised at the overwhelming passion he felt at seeing her face smiling up at his.

Sentiment may specifically suggest a fixed attitude that is an abiding part of one’s personality and that can be called up afresh as feeling by some external catalyst: politicians appealing to sentiments as safe as love of God, home and mother. In a more general use, it can, like feeling , suggest any of a variety of strong emotions . It also has a special use, referring to the expression of an emotional stand: He expressed his sentiments about the war with great eloquence. Affect is the most formal and technical of all these words and has little everyday use; it is used in psychiatric parlance to refer to an emotional state in its discernible psychological rather than physiological aspect.

• The excessive affect with which she reacted to several of the inkblots was also reflected in changes in her pulse and respiration; He was still in a state of shock and thus able to speak of his recent ordeal without affect ; the typical catatonic’s total loss of affect .