maudlin

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.

Ms. Schilinski roams in and out of all the impressions and recollections, most of them stained by sadness and regret, without turning maudlin or melodramatic.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 15, 2026

Played as a maudlin admission that she’s a fallen woman, this scene would doom the play to a dusty footnote in O’Neill’s oeuvre.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 14, 2025

The book is not unnecessarily maudlin but rather sharply present, which is also simply an accurate descriptor for much of Smith’s life and work.

From Salon • Nov. 11, 2025

He’s also invested his protagonist with a self-deprecating sense of humor that keeps his pessimism from veering into maudlin territory.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2025

“We’ll just change to something less maudlin than wine.”

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss