Meaning & use
maudlin
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Meaning
adjectivecomparabledisapproving
Overly emotional in a weepy, self-pitying way, often because of tiredness or drinking.
Grammar: Comes before a noun or after a linking verb: a maudlin song, he grew maudlin.
Patterns
- grow maudlin
- get maudlin about something
After two glasses of wine he grew maudlin and began to talk about his old school days.
The film was too maudlin for my taste, with violins at every sad moment.
She wrote a maudlin letter full of self-pity.
Word forms
| comparative | more maudlin |
|---|---|
| superlative | most maudlin |
Common combinations
- grow maudlin
- He tends to grow maudlin after a few drinks.
- maudlin song
- The band played a maudlin song about lost love.
- maudlin sentiment
- The card was full of maudlin sentiment.
- get maudlin
- Don't get maudlin on me now.
- maudlin speech
- His maudlin speech made guests uncomfortable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sentimental
- Sentimental can be a mild or even warm word, while maudlin always suggests too much emotion.
- mawkish
- Mawkish is very close, though it stresses false or sickly sentiment rather than weepy self-pity.
- tearful
- Tearful simply describes crying or being near tears, with no criticism of the feeling.
- soppy
- Soppy is a more casual British word for silly sentimentality and sounds less critical than maudlin.
Opposites
Word family
- maudlinly adverb
- in an overly sentimental way
- maudlinness noun
- the quality of being tearfully sentimental
- Magdalen proper noun
- Mary Magdalene, usually shown weeping in art, from which maudlin comes
Commonly confused: maudlin or mawkish?
maudlin vs mawkish
Mawkish is a similar word, but it suggests sentiment that feels fake or sickly, while maudlin suggests being weepy and self-pitying.
Practice
After the party, he became ____, sobbing about friends he had not seen in years.
Choose one answer.
Maudlin means tearfully and excessively emotional, which fits sobbing at a party. Jovial means cheerful, indifferent means uninterested and livid means furious.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “maudlin”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.