bathos
bat·hos
noun
1.
triteness or triviality of style
2.
3.
a change from a serious subject to a disappointing one
Origin
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βάθος (báthos, “depth”). Employed ironically following Alexander Pope's Peri Bathous, lampooning various errors in contemporary writers.
Phrases
- comic relief
Related words
Broader terms
Parts
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.