as in sentimental
appealing to the emotions in an obvious and tiresome way
a maudlin movie about a lovable tramp
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Recent Examples of maudlin
He’s also invested his protagonist with a self-deprecating sense of humor that keeps his pessimism from veering into maudlin territory.
—
Literary Hub, 15 Dec. 2025
His inability to make hard decisions or abstain from becoming a maudlin, clingy drunk had transformed me from his girlfriend and lover into his mother and disciplinarian.
—Julia Ioffe, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
While such a scenario sounds potentially maudlin and manipulative, Lucero — who wrote the film from a personal place — never allows that to happen by making the characters complex and flawed, and laboring under real-life issues.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 12 Sep. 2025
Hoffman and Jonsson are both brilliant, vulnerable in their humanity in the face of such unfathomable conditions, but their repartee does seem forced and often maudlin.
—Gregory Nussen, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for maudlin
Literary Hub, 15 Dec. 2025
His inability to make hard decisions or abstain from becoming a maudlin, clingy drunk had transformed me from his girlfriend and lover into his mother and disciplinarian.
—Julia Ioffe, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
While such a scenario sounds potentially maudlin and manipulative, Lucero — who wrote the film from a personal place — never allows that to happen by making the characters complex and flawed, and laboring under real-life issues.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 12 Sep. 2025
Hoffman and Jonsson are both brilliant, vulnerable in their humanity in the face of such unfathomable conditions, but their repartee does seem forced and often maudlin.
—Gregory Nussen, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for maudlin
Recent Examples of Synonyms for maudlin
Adjective
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Kevin Hart got sentimental sending son Hendrix off to prom — even loaning him a watch for the evening.—
Lindy Segal,
PEOPLE,
25 Apr. 2026
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As the next generation of NFL stars showed up in style for football's big night, Jordyn Tyson laced up his older brother Jaylon Tyson's sneakers, which held a bit of their own sentimental sports history.—
Kelly McCarthy,
ABC News,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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But the Pistons were sloppy with the ball and careless overall in a 94-88 loss to the Orlando Magic on Monday night, falling behind 3-1 in their first-round Eastern Conference series.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
28 Apr. 2026
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The Wolves started out sloppy with nine first-quarter turnovers and finished with 25.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The worry looming over the economy Earlier this month, Dimon had also warned in his shareholder letter that the war in Iran risks oil and commodity price shocks that could keep inflation sticky and push interest rates higher than the market now expects.—
USA Today,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
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Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok has warned the combination of tariffs, sticky inflation, and slowing growth can create a stagflation-like setup, one that would be hostile to both markets and consumers.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
28 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Maudlin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/maudlin. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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