noun (n)

• subject matter that is calculated to excite and please vulgar tastes(noun.communication)

  source: wordnet30
• the journalistic use of subject matter that appeals to vulgar tastes(noun.communication)

  Example:
  The tabloids relied on sensationalism to maintain their circulation.
  

  Synonym:
  luridness
  

  source: wordnet30
• (philosophy) the ethical doctrine that feeling is the only criterion for what is good(noun.cognition)

  Synonym:
  sensualism
  

  source: wordnet30
• (philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience(noun.cognition)

  Synonym:
  empiricism, empiricist philosophy
  

  source: wordnet30
• The doctrine held by Condillac, and by some ascribed to Locke, that our ideas originate solely in sensation, and consist of sensations transformed; sensualism; -- opposed to intuitionalism, and rationalism.(noun)

  source: webster1913