as in sentimentality
the state or quality of having an excess of tender feelings (as of love, nostalgia, or compassion)
a novel that wallows in bathos
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Recent Examples of bathos
At the same time, no one in metal was funnier, more in touch with his own bathos, more post–Spinal Tap, in a sense, than Ozzy, especially in his shambling-paterfamilias incarnation on MTV’s reality show The Osbournes.
—
James Parker, The Atlantic, 12 Sep. 2025
Playing with comic bathos is a dangerous game when aiming for sincerity.
—David Benedict, Variety, 12 Sep. 2024
Elsewhere, a black granite sarcophagus is meant to be an homage to AIDS victims; this, too, empties into bathos.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 14 June 2024
But there is an inescapable bathos in the way Ronaldo glorifies these achievements.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 31 May 2024
Glazer’s movie is a presentation of nearly unfathomable horrors by way of bathos, alluding to enormities in the form of minor daily inconveniences.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 2023
Arbus captured expressions of exuberance, delight in companionship, parental tenderness, self-love, piercing intelligence, ironic fatigue, suavity, bathos, aggression, perplexity and various expressions of curiosity about (or boredom with) the process of having one’s photograph taken.
—Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 26 Sep. 2022
Unlike the latter, our French super-doctor ends his life in bathos.
—Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 16 May 2022
James Parker, The Atlantic, 12 Sep. 2025
Playing with comic bathos is a dangerous game when aiming for sincerity.
—David Benedict, Variety, 12 Sep. 2024
Elsewhere, a black granite sarcophagus is meant to be an homage to AIDS victims; this, too, empties into bathos.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 14 June 2024
But there is an inescapable bathos in the way Ronaldo glorifies these achievements.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 31 May 2024
Glazer’s movie is a presentation of nearly unfathomable horrors by way of bathos, alluding to enormities in the form of minor daily inconveniences.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 2023
Arbus captured expressions of exuberance, delight in companionship, parental tenderness, self-love, piercing intelligence, ironic fatigue, suavity, bathos, aggression, perplexity and various expressions of curiosity about (or boredom with) the process of having one’s photograph taken.
—Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 26 Sep. 2022
Unlike the latter, our French super-doctor ends his life in bathos.
—Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 16 May 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bathos
Noun
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The heavy-handed sentimentality is a welcome, necessary respite.—
James Grebey,
Time,
12 Sep. 2025
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Practically the only star who could handle this awkward blend of sincerity and sentimentality was Robin Williams, and rarely has a film premise seemed better suited to his skills.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
7 Sep. 2025
Noun
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McBride is less interested in exploring another motivation for saving locks of hair: the particular sentimentalism that made people cherish the hair of loved ones, especially those who had died, or of honored forebears.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
21 July 2025
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While leaders of the nature-study movement warned against sentimentalism and make-believe, young readers were delighted by such tales.—
Jessica George,
JSTOR Daily,
25 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bathos.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bathos. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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