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Podcast: Word of the Day
Episode: Maudlin
Description: Maudlin is an adjective that means self-pitying or tearfully sentimental.
Our word of the day has a biblical origin. Mary Magdalen of the New Testament was often referred to as βthe weeping sinner.β By the Middle English period, a derivation of her last name became maudlin. Hereβs an example of it in use:
That last scene in the movie may have been a little maudlin, but I have to admit it moved me to tears β just like everybody else in the theater.