mawkish

[maw-kish]

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adjective

characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin.
having a mildly sickening flavor; slightly nauseating.

Origin of mawkish

1660–70; obsolete mawk maggot (late Middle English < Old Norse mathkr maggot) + -ish¹. See maggot

Related formsmawk·ish·ly, adverbmawk·ish·ness, noun

Synonyms for mawkish

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1. sentimental, teary.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for mawkish

mushy, gooey, sloppy, cloying, sappy, maudlin, teary, feeble, nauseating, romantic, sickening, bathetic, gushy, schmaltzy, gushing, lovey-dovey

Examples from the Web for mawkish

Contemporary Examples of mawkish

The jibe is off-key too because Wilde himself was hardly immune to the sentimental and even the mawkish.
Charles Dickens' Enduring Insights on Human Loss and Suffering
David Frum
February 18, 2013

Historical Examples of mawkish

What a fool, what a weak, mawkish, insipid fool he had made of himself!
Spring Street
James H. Richardson
For mawkish, sentimental religion the Count had an honest contempt.
History of the Moravian Church
J. E. Hutton
There was no mawkish sentiment—no melancholy in his make-up.
Robert Toombs
Pleasant A. Stovall
It's all splendid and barbaric; no mawkish sentiment about it.
Peking Dust
Ellen N. La Motte
This is no time for trifling, nor for mawkish sentimentality.
Theft
Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for mawkish

mawkish

adjective

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

Derived Formsmawkishly, adverbmawkishness, noun

Word Origin for mawkish

C17: from obsolete mawk maggot + -ish

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mawkish

adj.

1660s, "sickly, nauseated," from Middle English mawke "maggot" (see maggot). Sense of "sickly sentimental" is first recorded 1702. Related: Mawkishly; mawkishness.