different between hokey vs maudlin

English

Alternative forms

• hokie, hoaky, hoky

Etymology

From the verb hoke (“to give an artificial feel to”), from hokum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h??ki/
• (US) IPA: /?ho?ki/

  Rhymes: -??ki

Adjective

hokey (comparative hokier, superlative hokiest)

1. (US, colloquial) phony, as if a hoax; noticeably contrived; of obviously flimsy credibility or quality

2. (US, colloquial) corny; overly or unbelievably sentimental

   Synonyms: cheesy, kitschy

Related terms

• hokiness
• hoke
• hokum

Translations

See also

• Hokey Cokey
• hokeypokey
• hokey-tokey

Further reading

• “hokey”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

English

Etymology

From Middle English Maudelen, a dialectal form of Mary Magdalene (typically depicted weeping), from Old French Madelaine, from Late Latin Magdalena.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?m??d.l?n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?d.l?n/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /?m?d.l?n/

Noun

maudlin (plural maudlins)

1. (obsolete, Christianity) The Magdalene; Mary Magdalene. [14th-16th c.]
   • c. 1400, Nicholas Love (trans.), The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ:

2. (historical) Either of two aromatic plants, costmary or sweet yarrow. [from 15th c.]
   • 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society 2007, p. 186:

3. (obsolete) A Magdalene house; a brothel. [17th c.]

Adjective

maudlin (comparative more maudlin, superlative most maudlin)

1. Affectionate or sentimental in an effusive, tearful, or foolish manner, especially because of drunkenness. [from 17th c.]
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 6:

   • around 1900, O. Henry, The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Highball

2. Extravagantly or excessively sentimental; mawkish, self-pitying. [from 17th c.]
   • 1961, CS Lewis, A Grief Observed

3. (obsolete) Tearful, lachrymose. [17th-19th c.]

Synonyms

• (affectionately sentimental): mushy, sappy, schmaltzy, soupy, slushy
  • (drunk): See Thesaurus:drunk
• (excessively sentimental): emotional, overwrought, soppy
• (tearful): larmoyant, mournful, plaintful, teary, weepy; see also Thesaurus:sad

Translations

Anagrams

• Mauldin, indlamu