maudlin
/ˈmɔːd.lɪn//ˈmɔːd.lɪn/
maudlin noun: the Magdalene; Mary Magdalene.
Noun
maudlin (plural maudlins)
- The Magdalene; Mary Magdalene.
- for alle they worſchipden hir ſouereynly / as worthy was / but ſpecially Mawdelayne / that wolde neuere departe fro hir.c. 1400, Nicholas Love, transl., The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ
- Either of two aromatic plants, costmary or sweet yarrow.
- Common Maudlin have somewhat long and narrow leaves, snipped about the edges.1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society, published 2007, page 186
- A Magdalene house; a brothel.
Adjective
maudlin (comparative more maudlin, superlative most maudlin)
- Affectionate or sentimental in an effusive, tearful, or foolish manner, especially because of drunkenness.
- Why, man, you couldn't stand—you made everybody laugh in the Gardens, though you were crying yourself. You were maudlin, Jos. Don't you remember singing a song?1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 6, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
- With the help of a sleepy waiter, Little Billee got the bacchanalian into his room and lit his candle for him, and, disengaging himself from his maudlin embraces, left him to wallow in solitude.1894, George du Maurier, “Part Third”, in Trilby: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 165
- Synonyms:
- mushy, sappy, schmaltzy, drippy, soupy, slushy, Adrian Quist, adrip, aled up, all mops and brooms
- Extravagantly or excessively sentimental; mawkish, self-pitying.
- To cap it all I had written a letter to Mara saying that we had to find a way out soon or I would commit suicide. It must have been a maudlin letter because when she telephoned me she said it was imperative to see me immediately.1949, Henry Miller, Sexus (The Rosy Crucifixion), Grove Press, published 1965, →ISBN, page 105
- On the rebound one passes into tears and pathos. Maudlin tears. I almost prefer the moments of agony. These are at least clean and honest. But the bath of self-pity, the wallow, the loathsome sticky-sweet pleasure of indulging it — that disgusts me.1961, CS Lewis, A Grief Observed
- Tearful, lachrymose.
- Synonyms:
- cryey, larmoyant, weepy, crysome, lachrymate, lachrymose, moist, sobful, tearful, teary
Proper noun capitalized: Maudlin
Maudlin (plural Maudlins)
Examples of maudlin in a sentence
- What he had fondly imagined was a pleasant exhilaration had been maudlin intoxication.c. 1900, O. Henry, The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Highball:
- You do more and work harder and oh shit I'd get maudlin about how damned swell you are.1927 Mar. 31, Ernest Hemingway, letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald
Synonyms of maudlin
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of maudlin
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | maudlins |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more maudlin |
| superlative | most maudlin |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Maudlins |
| alternative form | Maudling |
| alternative form | Maulding |
Origin of maudlin
From Middle English Maudelen, a dialectal form of Mary Magdalene (typically depicted weeping), from Old French Madelaine (whence Madeleine), from Late Latin Magdalena (see Magdalena, Magdalene, and Maudlin).
English surname, from Middle English Maudeleyn. Doublet of Madeleine, Magdalen, Magdalena, and Magdalene.
Words formed from maudlin
Questions about maudlin
- What does maudlin mean?
- Maudlin means the Magdalene; Mary Magdalene.
- How do you use maudlin in a sentence?
- What he had fondly imagined was a pleasant exhilaration had been maudlin intoxication.
- What part of speech is maudlin?
- Maudlin can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce maudlin?
- Maudlin is pronounced /ˈmɔːd.lɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of maudlin?
- The plural of maudlin is maudlins.
Words near maudlin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: maudlin (page history and authors); Maudlin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-maudlin.wav, En-us-maudlin.ogg.
Cite this entry: “maudlin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/maudlin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.