bathos

[ bey-thos, -thaws, -thohs ]

noun

1. a ludicrous descent from the exalted or lofty to the commonplace; anticlimax.
2. insincere pathos; sentimentality; mawkishness.

   Synonyms: tearfulness, maudlinness, schmaltz, gush, mush

3. triteness or triviality in style.

   Synonyms: insipidity, inanity

bathos

/ ˈbeɪθɒs /

noun

1. a sudden ludicrous descent from exalted to ordinary matters or style in speech or writing
2. insincere or excessive pathos
3. triteness; flatness
4. the lowest point; nadir

Word History and Origins

Origin of bathos¹

1630–40; < Greek: depth

Word History and Origins

Origin of bathos¹

C18: from Greek: depth, from bathus deep

Example Sentences

My colleague Michelle Cottle does a great job today of capturing the Sturgesesque bathos of the Liz Cheney “campaign.”

From The Daily Beast

Rather like the way of life it celebrates, The Radetzky March hinges on trivia and bathos more than any real grand gesture.

From The Daily Beast

In the Guildhall yard the cab would happen, if it happened at all, naturally and without any effect of bathos.

From Project Gutenberg

The arrangement of the words or clauses in a descending order is called anticlimax or bathos.

From Project Gutenberg

To say that the morsels fetched their weight in gold would be the reverse of exaggeration—mere bathos.

From Project Gutenberg

"The ghost of God," I answered, in what she must have thought a tone of bathos!

From Project Gutenberg

He is prone to eccentric flights, to bathos and absurdities.

From Project Gutenberg