Word of the Day: Mawkish

Mawkish:  MAW-kish

Part of speech:  adjective

Origin:  Middle English, late 17^th century

1.  Exaggeratedly sentimental or emotional.

2.  Having a mildly unpleasant or sickening taste.

Examples used in a sentence:

1.  The beauty pageant was so over the top that some audience members were made uncomfortable by the mawkish speeches.

2.  His grandmother wanted to be encouraging, but all the baking lessons produced were mawkish cookies.


About Mawkish

In a profile of sensitive crooner and skilled guitarist John Mayer on the music blog Pitchfork, his debut album was described as “mawkish.”  In the years since, Mayer has proven his musical chops to be heftier by stepping in the Jerry Garcia role with the Grateful Dead offshoot Dead & Company.

Did You Know?

Do you know that feeling of being so uncomfortable you squirm in your seat?  In Middle English, “mawk” meant maggot giving mawkish its awkward connotation.  When it’s so bad you think you don’t have any words for it, pull out mawkish.