mawkishness

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I thought it could fall into mawkishness, and I was a little concerned each time I turned the page.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025

But it’s Fraser’s smart, humane, vulnerable performance that too often seems trapped, in this case by a film whose mawkishness so oppressively weighs him down.

From Washington Post • Dec. 20, 2022

But where the execution of those storylines has garnered some criticism for moments of mawkishness or overwrought dialogue, it’s more successful in its honest depiction of cancer—or, at least, one specific cancer story.

From Time • Nov. 10, 2015

Heard at the second performance on Wednesday, the score leans on Ms. Higdon’s persistent weaknesses — namely, a tendency toward mawkishness — and stints her gifts for teasing out creative orchestral colors and instrumental combinations.

From New York Times • Aug. 6, 2015

He had wit, originality, and pathos, though the last not seldom runs into mawkishness, and an exquisitely delicate and glancing style.

From A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature by Cousin, John W. (John William)