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Definition of sensationalist in US English:

sensationalist

noun

  • A person who presents stories in a way that is intended to provoke public interest or excitement, at the expense of accuracy.

    ‘sensationalists got their kicks out of misreporting the murder’
    • ‘His reputation suffered, as the diaries fed the fires stoked by sensationalists.’
    • ‘It seems to me that his lead sentence is the mark of a clear sensationalist.’
    • ‘The bureau got support in this endeavour not just from Hearst, but from other off-the-wall sensationalists as well.’
    • ‘He is a tough reporter, not a sensationalist.’
    • ‘Will we become sensationalists, or will we become intellectuals supported by listening to mentors and by producing substantive work?’
    • ‘Perhaps if the sensationalists looked at the effects of tobacco and alcohol on the populace, they would find more serious causes to champion.’
    • ‘The struggle between the conventional press and the sensationalists mirrored government efforts to control or eliminate the spectacle of execution.’
    • ‘We here on this blog are anything but fear-mongering sensationalists.’
    • ‘Pushing to excess casualty stories and other travails of military conflict are many plebeian sensationalists who fail to place such issues in proper perspective.’
    • ‘Sensationalists claimed to believe only what they saw, but in fact they were rather better at believing than seeing.’

adjective

  • Presenting stories in a way that is intended to provoke public interest or excitement, at the expense of accuracy.

    ‘sensationalist reporting of the latest alleged cancer cures’
    ‘sensationalist media campaigns’
    • ‘In an alternate Hollywood, the media mistakes him for his criminal double, and he's subjected to a sensationalist televised trial.’
    • ‘There is the obvious concern of turning the victim's story into a sensationalist work.’
    • ‘They may be jumping too quickly to a sensationalist conclusion.’
    • ‘He employed a sensationalist rhetorical style to spice up the stories of his adolescent witches.’
    • ‘Articles on hackers and hacking increasingly use sensationalist tone and language.’
    • ‘He believed that the discoveries of sensationalist psychology had made it possible to articulate the fundamental principles of social science.’
    • ‘The photographs were of victims of sensationalist violent crimes.’
    • ‘There has been a recent flurry of sensationalist warnings about the threat of exotic species.’
    • ‘The irony is that this is not written in a sensationalist manner.’
    • ‘Critics wonder whether the media can control its sensationalist urges.’

Pronunciation

sensationalist

/sɛnˈseɪʃ(ə)n(ə)ləst//senˈsāSH(ə)n(ə)ləst/