Poignant vs Mawkish - What's the difference?
poignant | mawkish |
(obsolete, of a weapon etc) Sharp-pointed; keen.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , VII:
Incisive; penetrating.
neat; eloquent; applicable; relevant.
Evoking strong mental sensation, to the point of distress; emotionally moving.
(figuratively, of a taste or smell) Piquant, pungent.
Piercing.
(dated, mostly British) Inducing sharp physical pain.
Feeling sick, queasy.
(archaic) Sickening or insipid in taste or smell.
Excessively or falsely sentimental; showing a sickly excess of sentiment.
* 2014 August 11, , "
As adjectives the difference between poignant and mawkish
is that poignant is sharp-pointed; keen while mawkish is feeling sick, queasy.poignant
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- His siluer shield, now idle maisterlesse; / His poynant speare, that many made to bleed [...].
- His comments were poignant and witty.
- A poignant reply will garner more credence than hours of blown smoke.
- Flipping through his high school yearbook evoked many a poignant memory of yesteryear.
Synonyms
* (evoking strong mental sensation) distressing, movingReferences
* OED 2nd edition 1989 * Webster Third New International 1986 ----mawkish
English
Alternative forms
* maukish (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)Robin Williams, Oscar-Winning Comedian, Dies at 63 in Suspected Suicide," New York Times
- Some of Mr. Williams’s performances were criticized for a mawkish sentimentality, like “Patch Adams,” a 1998 film that once again cast him as a good-hearted doctor, and “Bicentennial Man,” a 1999 science-fiction feature in which he played an android.