mawkish

Also found in: Thesaurus.

Related to mawkish: mawkishly

mawk·ish

(mô′kĭsh)

adj.

1. Excessively and objectionably sentimental. See Synonyms at sentimental.

2. Archaic Having a sickening taste.

[From Middle English mawke, maggot, variant of magot; see maggot.]

mawk′ish·ly adv.

mawk′ish·ness n.

mawkish

(ˈmɔːkɪʃ)

adj

1. falsely sentimental, esp in a weak or maudlin way

2. nauseating or insipid in flavour, smell, etc

[C17: from obsolete mawk maggot + -ish]

ˈmawkishly adv

ˈmawkishness n

mawk•ish

(ˈmɔ kɪʃ)

adj.

1. sentimental; maudlin.

2. mildly sickening in flavor.

[1660–70; obsolete mawk maggot (< Old Norse mathkr maggot) + -ish¹; see maggot]

mawk′ish•ly, adv.

mawk′ish•ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Adj.

mawkish - effusively or insincerely emotional; "a bathetic novel"; "maudlin expressions of sympathy"; "mushy effusiveness"; "a schmaltzy song"; "sentimental soap operas"; "slushy poetry"

hokey, kitschy, maudlin, schmaltzy, schmalzy, bathetic, sentimental, slushy, soppy, soupy, mushy, drippy

emotional - of more than usual emotion; "his behavior was highly emotional"

mawkish

adjective sentimental, emotional, feeble, mushy (informal), soppy (Brit. informal), maudlin, slushy (informal), schmaltzy (slang), icky (informal), gushy (informal), three-hankie (informal) a sentimental plot with an inevitable mawkish ending

mawkish

adjective

Affectedly or extravagantly emotional:

bathetic, gushy, maudlin, romantic, sentimental, slushy, sobby, soft, soppy.

Informal: gooey, mushy, schmaltzy, sloppy, soupy.

Slang: drippy, sappy, tear-jerking.

Translations

rührselig

sdolcinato

mawkish

[ˈmɔːkɪʃ] ADJ → empalagoso, sensiblero, insulso

mawkish

[ˈmɔːkɪʃ] adj [film, play, scene, sentimentality] → mièvre

mawkish

adj → rührselig, sentimental

mawkish

[ˈmɔːkɪʃ] adj → svenevole, sdolcinato/a, insipido/a

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Mawkish and over-mellow becometh the fruit in their hands: unsteady, and withered at the top, doth their look make the fruit-tree.

View in context

I am not saying this now from any mawkish kind of remorse.

View in context

He was astonished at its religious tone, which seemed to him neither mawkish nor sentimental.

View in context

At Heidelberg I met a fat veterinary surgeon whose voice broke with sobs as he repeated some mawkish poetry.

View in context

The poems were not great, some of them indeed were nothing less than mawkish, but perhaps they did not deserve the slashing review which appeared in the Edinburgh Review.

View in context

There was no stile or gap at hand by which I could escape into the fields, so I walked quietly on, saying to myself, 'It may not be he after all; and if it is, and if he do annoy me, it shall be for the last time, I am determined, if there be power in words and looks against cool impudence and mawkish sentimentality so inexhaustible as his.'

View in context

Similarly his pathos is often exaggerated until it passes into mawkish sentimentality, so that his humbly-bred heroines, for example, are made to act and talk with all the poise and certainty which can really spring only from wide experience and broad education.

View in context

You'd hear of odd things if I lived alone with that mawkish, waxen face: the most ordinary would be painting on its white the colours of the rainbow, and turning the blue eyes black, every day or two: they detestably resemble Linton's.'

View in context

Yet, another mug of beer?" and one and another successively having buried their blond whiskers in the mawkish draught, curled them and swaggered off into the fair.

View in context

It would have been good-natured except for a look in the eyes, which shone with a watery, mawkish light under almost white, blinking eyelashes.

View in context

Or that such mawkish fund-raising hops added to the painfully embarrassing pop concerts and pay-at-the-gate grave visits can do nothing but cheapen and demean the memory of a woman that has already been blighted by cynically over-hyped outpourings of alleged grief.

Star spangled snub for Queen of Hearts party

But she despises Cameron's mawkish compassion for criminals, and wants to bring back capital punishment.