Bathos
WordNet
noun
(1) A change from a serious subject to a disappointing one
(2) Triteness or triviality of style
(3) Insincere pathos
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From . Used metaphorically from 1638 (Robert Sanderson).
First used ironically by Pope (Bathos, 1727), in contrast to .
Noun
- Depth, bottom.
- An abrupt change in style, usually from high to low; an unintended transition of style; an anticlimax.
- Triteness; triviality; banality.
- 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 - 1850.