as in sentimentality
the state or quality of having an excess of tender feelings (as of love, nostalgia, or compassion)
the grating mawkishness of her poetry makes me want to stamp on wildflowers
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Recent Examples of mawkishness
These films explore those bonds without ever resorting to bromides or mawkishness.
—
Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 7 Nov. 2025
Then things just unravel into a half-hour of thoroughly phony mawkishness.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025
Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 7 Nov. 2025
Then things just unravel into a half-hour of thoroughly phony mawkishness.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mawkishness
Noun
-
There's an inherent sentimentality in rescuing someone’s treasures and incorporating them into your style.—
Nicole Letts,
Southern Living,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Maybe her most important one is the raw sentimentality that pervades even seemingly vapid moments.—
E.R. Pulgar,
Pitchfork,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The Academy historically goes for sentimentalism.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
4 Oct. 2025
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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
Cite this Entry
“Mawkishness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mawkishness. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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