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
After a mawkish beginning, the play somewhat redeems itself through earned emotions and an ambiguous ending that begs discussion.
—
Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 14 June 2025
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, jailed and banned frequently, has never allowed his work to get mawkish.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2025
If that line of reasoning is too mawkish and bleeding-heart for your taste, Worsley makes a more pragmatic argument for a generous, welcoming immigration policy, one unsentimentally rooted in cold dollars and cents.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Mercury News, 15 May 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for mawkish
Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 14 June 2025
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, jailed and banned frequently, has never allowed his work to get mawkish.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2025
If that line of reasoning is too mawkish and bleeding-heart for your taste, Worsley makes a more pragmatic argument for a generous, welcoming immigration policy, one unsentimentally rooted in cold dollars and cents.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Mercury News, 15 May 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for mawkish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mawkish
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
“Mawkish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mawkish. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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