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
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As expected, there was precisely zero sentimentality from Quick, who was the Conn Smythe winner during the Kings’ first Stanley Cup title run in 2012 and their starting goalie for their second in 2014 as well.—
Andrew Knoll,
Daily News,
21 Jan. 2026
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John, who plays Mickey’s father in the film, described watching Zelda and Toby inhabit such fraught roles without sentimentality.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
20 Jan. 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 9 Feb. 2026.
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