maudlin adj : effusively or insincerely emotional; "a bathetic novel"; "maudlin expressons of sympathy"; "mushy effusiveness"; "a schmaltzy song"; "sentimental soap operas"; "slushy poetry" [syn: bathetic, drippy, hokey, mawkish, mushy, schmaltzy, schmalzy, sentimental, slushy]

English

Etymology

From the name for Mary Magdalen in the Bible, typically depicted weeping.

Adjective

1. Extravagantly or excessively sentimental; self-pitying.

   ''On the rebound one passes into tears and pathos. Maudlin tears. I almost prefer the moments of agony. These are at least clean and honest. But the bath of self-pity, the wallow, the loathsome sticky-sweet pleasure of indulging it — that disgusts me.

   CS Lewis, A Grief Observed, 1961

2. Affectionate or sentimental in an effusive, tearful, or foolish manner, especially because of drunkenness

Maudlin may refer to

• Excessively sentimental
• Magdalene College, Cambridge
• Magdalen College, Oxford

addled, apish, asinine, bathetic, batty, beery, befooled, befuddled, beguiled, bemused, besotted, blind drunk, brainless, buffoonish, cloying, cockeyed, confused, crapulent, crapulous, crazy, credulous, daffy, daft, dazed, dizzy, doting, drenched, drunk, drunken, dumb, far-gone, fatuitous, fatuous, flaky, flustered, fond, fool, foolheaded, foolish, fou, fuddled, full, futile, gaga, gay, giddy, glorious, gooey, goofy, gulled, gushing, happy, idiotic, imbecile, in liquor, inane, inebriate, inebriated, inebrious, inept, infatuated, insane, intoxicated, jolly, kooky, lachrymose, loony, mad, mawkish, mellow, merry, moronic, muddled, mushy, namby-pamby, nappy, nostalgic, nostomanic, nutty, overemotional, oversentimental, oversentimentalized, reeling, romantic, sappy, screwy, senseless, sentimental, sentimentalized, shikker, silly, sloppy, slushy, sodden, soft, soppy, sotted, soupy, sticky, stupid, tear-jerking, tearful, teary, thoughtless, tiddly, tipsy, under the influence, wacky, weepy, wet, witless