hokey
ho·key
adjective
1.
effusively or insincerely emotional
- “a bathetic novel”
- “maudlin expressions of sympathy”
- “mushy effusiveness”
- “a schmaltzy song”
- “sentimental soap operas”
- “slushy poetry”
2.
- “that artificial humility that her husband hated”
- “contrived coyness”
- “a stilted letter of acknowledgment”
- “when people try to correct their speech they develop a stilted pronunciation”
Origin
From the verb hoke ("to give an artificial feel to" [from hokum]) + -y.
Phrases
- Hokey Cokey
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.