mawkish

[ maw-kish ]

adjective

1. characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin.

   Synonyms: teary, sentimental

2. having a mildly sickening flavor; slightly nauseating.

mawkish

/ ˈmɔːkɪʃ /

adjective

1. falsely sentimental, esp in a weak or maudlin way
2. nauseating or insipid in flavour, smell, etc

Derived Forms

• ˈmawkishness, noun
• ˈmawkishly, adverb

Other Words From

• mawkish·ly adverb
• mawkish·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of mawkish¹

1660–70; obsolete mawk maggot ( late Middle English < Old Norse mathkr maggot) + -ish ¹. See maggot

Word History and Origins

Origin of mawkish¹

C17: from obsolete mawk maggot + -ish

Example Sentences

Yet her work is all heart, her flights of fancy rich with nostalgia without being mawkish.

From The Daily Beast

You want mawkish made-for-television melodrama, try The Bachelor or The Biggest Loser.

From The Daily Beast

The jibe is off-key too because Wilde himself was hardly immune to the sentimental and even the mawkish.

From The Daily Beast

The water, too, had become very mawkish and vapid, and there was scarcely any tea left; what remained was used up that evening.

From Project Gutenberg

Before I could answer he went on: "I'm no mawkish sentimentalist, and I won't allow anybody to be sorry for me—do you hear?"

From Project Gutenberg

Do you know, I couldn't help it; but that good lady would seem to me quite mawkish in her flattery!

From Project Gutenberg

It is a poor plot, and mawkish in character, though not without merits of style.

From Project Gutenberg

The pathos of these scenes is never false, never mawkish or overdone; it is the pathos of life itself.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cloying
• gooey
• maudlin
• mushy
• sappy
• sloppy
• teary