mawkish
mawkish
Definition
mawk·ish (mô′kis̸h)
adjective
- having a sweet, weak, sickening taste; insipid or nauseating
- sentimental in a weak, insipid way, so as to be sickening
Etymology: lit., maggoty < ME mawke, maggot < ON mathkr < IE base *math-, gnawing vermin > moth
mawk′·ishly adverb
mawk′·ish·ness noun
mawkish
Synonyms
mawkish
Usage Examples
Modifies a noun
- sentimentality: But maybe the program's greatest achievement was avoiding mawkish sentimentality.
- sentiment: But for some reason, the sheer emotional nudity on show - plus all that mawkish teenage sentiment really had me on edge.
- memory: They don't ship overseas " Impatiently Bond lit a cigarette...slammed the mawkish memories back into their long-closed file.
- speech: Conducting yourself in this fashion does not reveal a high regard or concern for those uniformed angels you eulogize in mawkish political speeches.
Modifying Another Word
- never: She is unsentimental, unpretentious, never mawkish, never the slightest bit swamped with self-pity, nor ever less than clear.
- not: It was sentimental, moving, yet not mawkish.
- occasionally: Pretty much all of the program was embarrassing now, and not just the occasionally mawkish serious bits.
Used with adjective complement
