Bathos

  • 1Bathos — is from the Greek , meaning depth . As used in English it originally referred to a particular type of bad poetry, but it is now used more broadly to cover any ridiculous artwork or performance. More strictly speaking, bathos is unintended humor… …

    Wikipedia

  • 2bathos — anticlimax, a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous, 1727, from Gk. bathos depth, related to bathys deep; introduced by Pope …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 3bathos — [bā′thäs΄, bā′thôs΄] n. [Gr bathos, depth < bathys: see BATHY ] 1. an abrupt, often ludicrous change from the lofty to the ordinary or trivial in writing or speech; unintentional anticlimax 2. false pathos; sentimentality 3. hackneyed quality; …

    English World dictionary

  • 4Bathos — Ba thos (b[=a] th[o^]s), n. [Gr. ba qos depth, fr. baqy s deep.] (Rhet.) A ludicrous descent from the elevated to the low, in writing or speech; anticlimax. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 5Bathos — (gr., Tiefe), bei älteren Ästhetikern das Erhabene; bei neueren gemeine, kriechende, erhaben sein sollende Schreibart …

    Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • 6Bathos — (griech. die Tiefe), niedere Rede und Schreibart …

    Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • 7bathos — *pathos, poignancy Analogous words: mawkishness, maudlinism, soppiness, mushiness (see corresponding adjectives at SENTIMENTAL) …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 8bathos — [n] sentimentality anticlimax, comedown, letdown, melodrama, mush, schmaltz*; concepts 32,410,689 …

    New thesaurus

  • 9bathos — ► NOUN ▪ (in literature) an unintentional change in mood from the important and serious to the trivial or ridiculous. DERIVATIVES bathetic adjective. ORIGIN Greek, depth …

    English terms dictionary

  • 10bathos — [18] Bathos, the descent from the sublime to the commonplace, means etymologically ‘depth’. It represents Greek báthos, a derivative of the adjective bathús ‘deep’ (which has also given English such technical terms as bathyal ‘of the deep sea’,… …

    The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins