bathos

American  

[bey-thos, -thaws, -thohs] / ˈbeɪ θɒs, -θɔs, -θoʊs /

noun

1. a ludicrous descent from the exalted or lofty to the commonplace; anticlimax.

2. insincere pathos; sentimentality; mawkishness.

   Synonyms:

   schmaltz, gush, mush, tearfulness, maudlinness

3. triteness or triviality in style.

   Synonyms:

   inanity, insipidity

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bathos British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of bathos

1630–40; < Greek: depth

Example Sentences

Open Roads, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden take on the emotional depths of family life in ways that shred the heartstrings — mostly without slipping into bathos.

From New York Times

Yet even as Winocour piles on too many complications, she retains an appreciable astringency — call it a sense of emotional realism about what it means to actually survive — that keeps bathos at bay.

From New York Times

The grid — a modernist pictorial device that she deploys with postmodernist bathos — is rendered in wonky, spray-painted lines or a loose pink and brown checkerboard.

From New York Times

But it also lapsed into bathos at times, in galleries about the events of Sept. 11, 2001, or a shrine to journalists killed while on duty.

From Washington Post

If that doesn’t work, they can always fall back on tear-jerking bathos and sentimental clichés.

From Los Angeles Times