as in sentimental
appealing to the emotions in an obvious and tiresome way
a mawkish plea for donations to the charity
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Recent Examples of mawkish
These kinds of pictures are intended to provoke—to catch the eye with their mawkish absurdity and uncanny-valley optics.
—
Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 5 Apr. 2025
The flashbacks are dreamy without becoming mawkish, and Gemma’s scenes in Lumon are nightmarish without feeling untethered or otherwordly.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 28 Feb. 2025
Roz rescues wildlife in a Noah’s Ark analogue, then goes from being a disingenuous Christ figure offering sacrifice and promise (but no resurrection) to a mawkish maternal figure.
—Armond White, National Review, 26 Feb. 2025
Beyond all the legal and even medical specifics resides a sense of communal understanding, and — at the risk of sounding mawkish — a deep and abiding love for one’s fellow human beings, which Feder taps into with aplomb.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 28 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mawkish
Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 5 Apr. 2025
The flashbacks are dreamy without becoming mawkish, and Gemma’s scenes in Lumon are nightmarish without feeling untethered or otherwordly.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 28 Feb. 2025
Roz rescues wildlife in a Noah’s Ark analogue, then goes from being a disingenuous Christ figure offering sacrifice and promise (but no resurrection) to a mawkish maternal figure.
—Armond White, National Review, 26 Feb. 2025
Beyond all the legal and even medical specifics resides a sense of communal understanding, and — at the risk of sounding mawkish — a deep and abiding love for one’s fellow human beings, which Feder taps into with aplomb.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 28 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mawkish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mawkish
Adjective
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The funny thing is, by all accounts, Zaslav is also genuinely sentimental about the network and said to even have it on at his office quite often.—
Christian Blauvelt,
IndieWire,
9 July 2025
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On July 7, Richardson, who played Julia McNamara in the series, was feeling sentimental and reflected on the cast's experience filming the six-season drama in an Instagram post.—
Julia Moore,
People.com,
8 July 2025
Adjective
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Some of it is good, but a lot of it is sloppy, outdated or full of vulnerabilities.—
Jimmie Lee,
Forbes.com,
10 July 2025
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Hein was sloppy, lazy and showed a lack of impartiality in dealing with him, Hicks said in his filing.—
Patricia Gallagher Newberry,
The Enquirer,
2 July 2025
Adjective
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Mercedes has this just about right, even with optional 22-inch AMG wheels shod with sticky high-performance Pirellis, as my test car was.—
Mark Ewing,
Forbes.com,
21 July 2025
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But just as she’s dragged back into the spotlight, her body begins to stage a quiet, sticky rebellion into a raw, absurd, and disturbingly relatable reckoning with art, womanhood, and the sheer chaos of being human.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
21 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mawkish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mawkish. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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