Mawkish
'mɔːkɪʃ
Definitions
Characterized by excessive sentimentality; having a sickly, sentimental taste.
'mɔːkɪʃ
Excessively sentimental; weakly emotional; nauseatingly sentimental.
The movie had a mawkish plot, with unrealistic drama.
💡 Simply: Mawkish means something is overly sweet and emotional, like a sappy movie or a story that tries too hard to make you cry. It’s when things become so sentimental that they almost make you feel sick.
👶 For kids: Mawkish means something is too sweet or mushy, like when a story is trying too hard to make you feel sad.
More Examples
I found the poem mawkish and insincere.
She winced at the mawkish display of affection.
How It's Used
"The novel's mawkish ending, with its clichéd reconciliation, left the reader feeling a bit queasy."
"He couldn't stand the mawkish love songs on the radio."
From Middle English *malkyssh, meaning 'maggot-infested, loathsome,' likely influenced by 'malk' meaning soft or tender.
Used since the late 16th century, originally relating to a foul taste or smell, the meaning shifted to emotional excess by the 19th century.
Memory tip
Imagine 'mawk' as a weak, easily-moved bird and 'ish' suggesting something resembling it. Mawkish is something overly sentimental and weak in sentiment.