different between macabre vs maudlin

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French macabre, whose etymology is uncertain, but possibly derives from the term danse macabre – the attribute of which was construed as an adjective – most commonly believed to be from corruption of the biblical name Maccabees; compare Latin Chorea Machabaeorum.

Another theory derives the term from Spanish macabro, from Arabic ????????? (maq?bir, “cemeteries”), plural of ?????????? (maqbara) or ?????????? (maqbura). Borrowing Arabic in plural form is not unusual: a similar case is the word magazine, derived from the plural ????? max?zin of the Arabic singular noun ???? maxzan "storehouse/depot/shop".

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /m??k??b??/, /m??k??b?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /m??k?b/, /m??k?b??/, /m??k?b?/
• Homophone: McCobb

Adjective

macabre (comparative more macabre, superlative most macabre)

1. Representing or personifying death.
   • 1941, George C. Booth, Mexico's School-made Society, page 106

     There are four fundamental figures. One is a man measuring and comparing his world […] In front of him is a macabre figure, a cadaver ready to be dissected. This symbolizes man serving mankind. The third figure is the scientist, the man who makes use of the information gathered in the first two fields of mensurable science.

2. Obsessed with death or the gruesome.
   • 1993, Theodore Ziolkowski, "Wagner's Parsifal between Mystery and Mummery", in Werner Sollors (ed.), The Return of Thematic Criticism, pages 274-275

     Indeed, in the 1854 draft of Tristan he planned to have Parzival visit the dying knight, and both operas display the same macabre obsession with bloody gore and festering wounds.

3. Ghastly, shocking, terrifying.
   • 1927 [1938], H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Introduction

     The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life.

   Synonyms: ghastly, horrifying, shocking, terrifying

Derived terms

• danse macabre

Translations

See also

• Danse Macabre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Anagrams

• carbeam

Catalan

Etymology

From French macabre

Adjective

macabre (feminine macabra, masculine and feminine plural macabres)

1. macabre

French

Etymology

From Danse Macabre (“dance of death”), from Old French, usually said to be from Macabé (“Maccabee”), in reference to a mystery play depicting their slaughter. See Maccabee.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.kab?/

Adjective

macabre (plural macabres)

1. macabre

Synonyms

• lugubre

Derived terms

• danse macabre

Further reading

• “macabre” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

References

Italian

Adjective

macabre

1. feminine plural of macabro

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ma?ka.bre]

Adjective

macabre

1. nominative feminine plural of macabru
2. accusative feminine plural of macabru
3. nominative neuter plural of macabru
4. accusative neuter plural of macabru

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