mawkish

see definition of mawkish

adjsentimental, emotional

Synonyms for mawkish

adj sentimental, emotional

Antonyms for mawkish

corny

adjective. trite, clichéd

drippy

adjective. sentimental

hokey

adjective. corny

maudlin

adjective. teary, overemotional

Word Origin & History

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

Example Sentences formawkish

What a fool, what a weak, mawkish, insipid fool he had made of himself!

For mawkish, sentimental religion the Count had an honest contempt.

There was no mawkish sentiment—no melancholy in his make-up.

It's all splendid and barbaric; no mawkish sentiment about it.

This is no time for trifling, nor for mawkish sentimentality.

Yes, my heart swells, but not with the mawkish fondness of a feeble mother.

They are a weakening of moral fiber, a waste of mawkish sentimentality.

I hate 'em when they make parting scenes: it's too mawkish!'

Often there is to the style a mawkish Sunday-school juvenile flavor.

The whole thing was faulty, mawkish, amateurish, and futile.