bathetic

Thân thiện

The novel's bathetic ending left readers rolling their eyes.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Effusively or insincerely emotional: Describes something that is overly sentimental in a way that seems exaggerated, forced, or lacking in genuine feeling. It often implies a failed attempt to be moving or poignant, resulting in a sense of triteness or mawkishness.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The film's ending was so bathetic that the audience groaned instead of crying.
  • He dismissed the politician's speech as bathetic rhetoric designed to manipulate voters.
  • Critics panned the novel for its bathetic portrayal of the hero's struggles.

Advanced Usage

• In Literary Criticism: Often used to critique works of art, literature, or speech that descend into cloying sentimentality. It suggests a lapse in artistic judgment where emotion is overplayed.
  • The poet's later work was criticized for becoming increasingly bathetic, trading profound insight for cheap emotionalism.

Variants and Related Words

• Bathos (n): The literary term for a sudden, often ludicrous, descent from the elevated to the ordinary or trivial, creating an unintentionally humorous or anticlimactic effect. This is the noun form from which "bathetic" is derived.
  • The novel's attempt at a tragic climax resulted in pure bathos.

Synonyms

• Maudlin: Tearfully or excessively sentimental, often due to drunkenness.
• Mawkish: Excessively and objectionably sentimental.
• Schmaltzy (Informal): Excessively sentimental, especially in music or art.
• Cliched: Overused to the point of losing originality and impact, often leading to a bathetic effect.
• Treacly: Cloyingly sweet or sentimental.

Antonyms

• Genuine: Authentic and sincere in feeling.
• Restrained: Characterized by reserve or moderation in expression.
• Poignant: Evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret, but in a genuinely moving and unsentimental way.
• Understated: Presented in a subtle, effective way without exaggeration.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• To lay it on thick (Idiom): To exaggerate praise, emotion, or blame excessively. This idiom describes an action that could result in a bathetic effect.
  • His eulogy was so bathetic; he really laid it on thick.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. effusively or insincerely emotional
   • a bathetic novel
   • maudlin expressions of sympathy
   • mushy effusiveness
   • a schmaltzy song
   • sentimental soap operas
   • slushy poetry