Joseph MitchellPatrick Moore
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The history of maudlin is connected both to the Bible and the barroom. The biblical Mary Magdalene is often (though some say mistakenly) identified with the weeping sinner who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears to repent for her sins. This association led to the frequent depiction of Mary Magdalene as a weeping penitent, and even the name Magdalene came to suggest teary emotion to many English speakers. It was then that maudlin, an alteration of Magdalene, appeared in the English phrase “maudlin drunk” in the 16th century, describing a weepy, drunken state. Nowadays, maudlin is used to describe someone or something that expresses sadness or sentimentality in an exaggerated way; however, the “maudlin drunk” meaning was so intoxicating that it stuck around and became the “drunk enough to be emotionally silly” sense still in use today, as in “after a few glasses of port he became quite maudlin.”
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Examples of maudlin in a Sentence
Coleman Spilde, Vulture, 12 Aug. 2024
Advertisement Lindsay-Abaire’s book and lyrics and Tesori’s peppy Broadway pop music have a madcap streak that resists ever being maudlin.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 18 Oct. 2024
There is a thin line between gratuitous and tasteful, maudlin and real, and that line is not located in the same place for every viewer.
—Eliza Berman, TIME, 11 Oct. 2024
Not wanting to be maudlin, Morrison sometimes comes off as shallow.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near maudlin
Cite this Entry
“Maudlin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maudlin. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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maudlin
adjective
Middle English Maudeleyn "Mary Magdalene," from early French Madeleine (same meaning), from Latin Magdalene (same meaning), from Greek Magdalēnē "(Mary) of Magdala (town on the Sea of Galilee)"; so called because Mary was frequently shown in religious paintings as weeping
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