mawkish
[maw-kish]
- characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin.
- having a mildly sickening flavor; slightly nauseating.
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Origin of mawkish
Synonyms
See more synonyms for mawkish on Thesaurus.com1. sentimental, teary.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for mawkishness
Historical Examples
The mawkishness of the sentiment was only surpassed by the feebleness of the style.
A Book for All ReadersAinsworth Rand Spofford
In this expectancy of death there is no mawkishness, no pose.
Comrade KropotkinVictor Robinson
There is nothing in it of the mawkishness of Kelly nor of the pompous affectation of Cumberland.
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 BertramsAnthony Trollope
In such a shape the patriotic instinct may tend in natures weaker than Bolingbroke's to mawkishness or sentimentality.
Shakespeare and the Modern StageSir Sidney Lee
mawkish
- falsely sentimental, esp in a weak or maudlin way
- nauseating or insipid in flavour, smell, etc
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Word Origin
C17: from obsolete mawk maggot + -ish
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper