mawkish
Americanadjective
-
characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin.
- Synonyms:
- teary, sentimental
-
having a mildly sickening flavor; slightly nauseating.
adjective
-
falsely sentimental, esp in a weak or maudlin way
-
nauseating or insipid in flavour, smell, etc
Other Word Forms
- mawkishly adverb
- mawkishness noun
Etymology
Origin of mawkish
1660–70; obsolete mawk maggot ( late Middle English < Old Norse mathkr maggot) + -ish 1. See maggot
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Morgan’s flair for the mawkish would be fine, and maybe even interesting, if he didn’t make the mistake of making the country music industry piles and piles of money.
From Salon • May 16, 2025
If that leaves you expecting mawkish sentiment and introspective wallowing, you've not been paying attention.
From BBC • Feb. 16, 2025
Not to be mawkish, but one of the things I like about the show is that if I saw it when I was 18, I think I would’ve enjoyed it.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2024
Meacham’s mawkish binary of history as a fight between our darker impulses and “the better angels of our nature” doesn’t accurately describe the moment we’re in.
From Slate • Mar. 3, 2023
Her soliloquies mawkish, her sentiments maudlin, malaise dripped like a fever from her pores.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
