| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| bathos |
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| SYLLABICATION: | ba·thos |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  b  th s , -thôs |
| NOUN: | 1a. An abrupt, unintended transition in style from the exalted to the commonplace, producing a ludicrous effect. b. An anticlimax. 2a. Insincere or grossly sentimental pathos: “a richly textured man who . . . can be . . . sentimental to the brink of bathos” (Kenneth L. Woodward). b. Banality; triteness. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Greek, depth, from bathus, deep.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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