Mawkish
Foolishly sentimental; excessively or sickeningly sentimental to the point of being affectation.
adjectiveMawkish
Foolishly sentimental; excessively or sickeningly sentimental to the point of being affectation.
adjectiveImagine This
Picture a scene in a movie where every line is a syrupy compliment and every instrument swells with a lush, over the top score; the sentimentality feels forced and almost nauseating.
Sounds Like
Ma's kiss → Mother's kiss
Looks Like
Looks like mawk + ish; resembles the word 'maw' (mouth/stomach) plus the suffix -ish.
Remember This
Mawkish is used to critique scenes, writing, or speech that tries too hard to be touching and ends up sounding artificial or cloying.
Other Forms
Connect With
sentimental, syrupy, saccharine, maudlin, cloying, gooey
Note
Do not confuse mawkish with sincere, tasteful emotion; mawkishness implies excessive, tiresome sentiment rather than genuine feeling.
Study Deeper
- The film's mawkish ending, with its syrupy speeches and tearful reunions, felt more nauseating than moving.
- Her mawkish birthday card overflows with sugar-sweet compliments that nobody believes.
From mawk, an archaic noun for the stomach or maw, plus the suffix -ish; originally described sentimentality that was nauseating, with usage dating to the 17th century.
MAWKISH: MAW (mouth/stomach) + KISH (sick-ish). Imagine the maw reacting to an overly sweet scene and turning feeling into sickness.
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