bathos

[ bey-thos, -thaws, -thohs ]

noun

1. a ludicrous descent from the exalted or lofty to the commonplace; anticlimax.
2. insincere pathos; sentimentality; mawkishness.

   Synonyms: tearfulness, maudlinness, schmaltz, gush, mush

3. triteness or triviality in style.

   Synonyms: insipidity, inanity

bathos

/ ˈbeɪθɒs /

noun

1. a sudden ludicrous descent from exalted to ordinary matters or style in speech or writing
2. insincere or excessive pathos
3. triteness; flatness
4. the lowest point; nadir

Word History and Origins

Origin of bathos¹

1630–40; < Greek: depth

Word History and Origins

Origin of bathos¹

C18: from Greek: depth, from bathus deep

Example Sentences

Open Roads, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden take on the emotional depths of family life in ways that shred the heartstrings — mostly without slipping into bathos.

From New York Times

Yet even as Winocour piles on too many complications, she retains an appreciable astringency — call it a sense of emotional realism about what it means to actually survive — that keeps bathos at bay.

From New York Times

The grid — a modernist pictorial device that she deploys with postmodernist bathos — is rendered in wonky, spray-painted lines or a loose pink and brown checkerboard.

From New York Times

But it also lapsed into bathos at times, in galleries about the events of Sept. 11, 2001, or a shrine to journalists killed while on duty.

From Washington Post

Shot in Utica, N.Y., and boasting locations that set a high bar for starkness, “Clean” has some real craft, but doesn’t quite satisfy as it toggles between bloodbaths and bathos.

From New York Times