bathos
a ludicrous descent from the exalted or lofty to the commonplace; anticlimax.
insincere pathos; sentimentality; mawkishness.
triteness or triviality in style.
Origin of bathos
1Other words for bathos
Words that may be confused with bathos
- bathos , pathos
Words Nearby bathos
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bathos in a sentence
My colleague Michelle Cottle does a great job today of capturing the Sturgesesque bathos of the Liz Cheney “campaign.”
Rather like the way of life it celebrates, The Radetzky March hinges on trivia and bathos more than any real grand gesture.
In the Guildhall yard the cab would happen, if it happened at all, naturally and without any effect of bathos.
The Incredible Honeymoon | E. NesbitThe arrangement of the words or clauses in a descending order is called anticlimax or bathos.
Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism | F. V. N. PainterTo say that the morsels fetched their weight in gold would be the reverse of exaggeration—mere bathos.
The Woodlands Orchids | Frederick Boyle
"The ghost of God," I answered, in what she must have thought a tone of bathos!
The Last Miracle | M. P. ShielHe is prone to eccentric flights, to bathos and absurdities.
Old Trails on the Niagara Frontier | Frank H. Severance
British Dictionary definitions for bathos
/ (ˈbeɪθɒs) /
a sudden ludicrous descent from exalted to ordinary matters or style in speech or writing
insincere or excessive pathos
triteness; flatness
the lowest point; nadir
Origin of bathos
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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