WELL-ter
(noun) A confused mass or jumble; a state of turmoil.
The newsroom was a welter of papers, phones, and last-minute edits.
Fun Fact
Welter originally meant to roll or toss—used for waves or bodies. Today, it’s a favorite in political and economic reporting, often used to describe systems in disarray: a welter of ideas, regulations, or conflicting emotions. It’s chaos with a vocabulary upgrade.
buh-THET-ik
(adjective) Producing an unintentional effect of anticlimax by being overly sentimental or trivial.
The film’s bathetic ending tried for tears but landed in cringe.
Fun Fact
Bathetic comes from the Greek word bathos, meaning “depth,” and was coined in contrast to “pathos.” While pathos moves us, bathos (and bathetic) refers to failed attempts at emotional gravity—where the result feels laughably out of place. You’ll find this word in reviews of soap operas, bad poetry, and speeches that take themselves way too seriously.