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

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mawkish ON THESAURUS.COM

1. sentimental, teary.

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

Related Words for mawkishness

sentimentalism, sentiment, mushiness, reminiscence, nostalgia, bathos, triteness, melodrama

Examples from the Web for mawkishness

Historical Examples of mawkishness

The mawkishness of the sentiment was only surpassed by the feebleness of the style.
A Book for All Readers
Ainsworth Rand Spofford
In this expectancy of death there is no mawkishness, no pose.
Comrade Kropotkin
Victor Robinson
There is nothing in it of the mawkishness of Kelly nor of the pompous affectation of Cumberland.
Their Majesties' Servants (Volume 2 of 3)
John Doran
She was told that it bored him to play the lover; that his misconduct was her fault; and then she was accused of mawkishness!
The Bertrams
Anthony Trollope
In such a shape the patriotic instinct may tend in natures weaker than Bolingbroke's to mawkishness or sentimentality.
Shakespeare and the Modern Stage
Sir Sidney Lee

British Dictionary definitions for mawkishness

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 mawkishness

mawkish

adj.

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