1 : an awareness by your body of something in it or on it : sensation [count] ▪ a feeling of pain/nausea ▪ I noticed tingling feelings in my fingers. ▪ She had a queasy feeling in her stomach. ▪ I had the feeling of something crawling across my foot. ▪ We enjoyed the feeling of walking barefoot in the sand. [noncount] ▪ He had no feeling in his right leg. 2 a : an emotional state or reaction [count] ▪ feelings of joy/sorrow/anger/love ▪ He's been troubled by feelings of guilt. ▪ There's no point in trying to hide your feelings. ▪ She's always had a kindly feeling towards them. = She always had kindly feelings towards them. ▪ I hope this decision won't cause any bad/ill feelings. [=cause any feelings of anger, dislike, etc.] ▪ I have a good feeling about this project. [=I expect this project to go well] ▪ He has ambivalent/mixed feelings about his new job [=he has both good and bad feelings about his new job] ▪ warm feelings [=good, pleasant, or friendly feelings] ▪ “I could really use a vacation.” “I know the feeling.” [=I know how you feel] ▪ The new security patrols gave residents a feeling of safety. [=the patrols made them feel safe] ▪ a feeling of comfort ▪ I didn't mean to insult you—no hard feelings, right? [=you're not angry, are you?] ▪ You hurt my feelings. [=you upset me; you made me feel bad] ▪ We pretended to like his artwork in order to spare his feelings. [=to avoid hurting his feelings] [noncount] ▪ They complained with feeling [=in a way that showed they were feeling strong emotion] about her decision. ▪ He spoke with feeling about the injustice he had seen.
b [noncount] : thoughts of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry, in trouble, etc. : sympathy
▪ Have you no feeling for the plight of the homeless? — see also fellow feeling 3 a [count] : an opinion or belief
▪ What's your feeling on/about this subject? = What are your feelings on/about this subject? ▪ I can see that you have strong feelings about this subject. ▪ I get the feeling [=impression] that you think I don't know what I'm doing. ▪ My feeling is that we need to hire more people. ▪ She shared her feelings with us on a variety of subjects. [=told us her opinions about a variety of subjects] ◊If you have a/the feeling that something might happen or be true, you think it might happen or be true even though you have no definite reason to think so.
▪ He had the feeling (that) he was being watched, although he didn't see anyone. ▪ I had a feeling you'd say that. ▪ I have a nagging/funny feeling that I've forgotten something. ▪ I have a sneaky/sneaking feeling that my guess was wrong. ▪ Do you ever have the feeling [=have the sense, have the impression] (that) you're being watched?
b [noncount] : an opinion or a way of thinking that is shared by many people
▪ Anti-war feeling has reached an all-time high. = There is strong feeling against the war. [=many people are opposed to the war] 4 [singular] : the general quality or character of a place or thing
▪ The story has an eerie feeling. [=feel, quality] ▪ a big city with a small-town feeling [=feel, atmosphere] 5 [noncount] : the quality of a work of art or performance that shows the emotion of the artist or performer
▪ You need to play this passage with more feeling. [=expression] 6 [singular] : an ability to understand the nature of something : ²feel 2
▪ a painter with a good feeling for color