bathos

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βάθος (bathos, “depth”). Used metaphorically from 1638 (Robert Sanderson). First used ironically by Pope (Bathos, 1727), in contrast to ὕψος (hypsos, “sublimity”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈbeɪθɒs/

Noun

bathos (uncountable)

1. Depth, bottom.
2. An abrupt change in style, usually from high to low; an unintended transition of style; an anticlimax.
3. Triteness; triviality; banality.
4. Overly sentimental and exaggerated pathos.

   I like you more than I can say; but I'll not sink into a bathos of sentiment: Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte - 1847.

Anagrams

• TAH-BSO