bathos
9.9
A sudden drop from a serious feeling to something silly in a speech or story
- noun
- /ˈbeɪθəs/
- Literature
:
bathos
- And so once it reaches bathos, it's something comically absurd to it.
And so once it reaches bathos, it's something comically absurd to it.
- And so once it reaches bathos, it's something comically absurd to it.
Examples
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The movie's unexpected bathos left viewers confused, as a dramatic scene suddenly turned into a farcical moment.
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Many critics noted the author's use of bathos in the story's conclusion, as it transitioned from a serious climax to a silly punchline.
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The speech was filled with bathos, shifting from profound topics to trivial anecdotes that made the audience laugh.
Synonyms
anticlimax
vsbathos
2
7.0
A disappointing end after a long build up of excitement
causes an unintentional silly drop from seriousness rather than mere disappointment
Antonyms
How Ridiculous
Surface Forms
Etymology
Bathos comes from the Greek word bathos, which means 'depth' or 'deep'. Think of it as a sudden fall from something serious into something silly, so when a speech or story drops from high feeling into the ridiculous, it is called bathos.