mawkish

[ maw-kish ]

/ ˈmɔ kɪʃ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mawkish ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin.

having a mildly sickening flavor; slightly nauseating.

Nearby words

mavourneen, mavun, maw, mawger, mawkin, mawkish, mawlamyine, mawlid, mawson, max, max müller

Origin of mawkish

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

SYNONYMS FOR mawkish

1 sentimental, teary.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mawkish ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

mawk·ish·ly, adverbmawk·ish·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
But of late he had developed different notions, and had come to pride himself on his freedom from all mawkish sentiment.
The Beautiful Miss Brooke|Louis Zangwill
Pope's translation is mawkish, and his "adieu, my dear, adieu!"
The Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1|Alexander Pope
He felt a nervous thrill going down his spine as he plunged into the mawkish words.
The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes|Israel Zangwill

This subversion of the moral law in the interest of mawkish sentimentality is one of the gravest evils of modern social ignorance.
The Ethics of Medical Homicide and Mutilation|Austin O'Malley
There is a sort of mawkish sentimentality in the copies of St. John, which always offended me.
The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. VI (of 8)|William Wordsworth

British Dictionary definitions for mawkish

mawkish

/ (ˈmɔːkɪʃ) /

adjective

falsely sentimental, esp in a weak or maudlin way

nauseating or insipid in flavour, smell, etc

Derived Forms

mawkishly, 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