sob story
Tale seeking sympathy
A sob story is a tale of personal hardship or misfortune, usually told to evoke sympathy or excuse failure.
The term is almost always dismissive, implying the story is exaggerated, manipulative, or irrelevant: Save the sob story—I've heard it all before.
Every candidate had some sob story about why they deserved the job.
Emotionally manipulative entertainment
- heartbreakCrushing emotional pain
- pathosPity-evoking quality
- sympathyCompassionate understanding of others
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
anguish · sorrow · misery · pity · woeful · heartrending · plaintive · mournful
Decorated or exaggerated
- dramatizedRendered for stage
- overblownInflated beyond reasonable proportion
- overwroughtExcessively emotional or elaborate
- melodramaticExaggeratedly emotional in expression
theatrical · histrionic · hammy · maudlin · schmaltzy · sentimental · sensationalized · over-the-top
Insincere show of sadness
- ployCalculated deceptive tactic
- guilt tripInducing remorse for leverage
- sympathy cardMessage acknowledging another's grief
- schemingCrafty and calculating
calculating · exploitative · insincere · disingenuous · feigned · pretense · ulterior · contrived
tearjerker
Emotionally manipulative entertainment
- heartbreakCrushing emotional pain
- pathosPity-evoking quality
- sympathyCompassionate understanding of others
grief · anguish · sorrow · misery · pity · woeful · heartrending · plaintive · mournful · forlorn
embellished
Decorated or exaggerated
- dramatizedRendered for stage
- overblownInflated beyond reasonable proportion
- overwroughtExcessively emotional or elaborate
melodramatic · theatrical · histrionic · hammy · maudlin · schmaltzy · sentimental · sensationalized · over-the-top · hyperbolic
crocodile tears
Insincere show of sadness
- ployCalculated deceptive tactic
- guilt tripInducing remorse for leverage
- sympathy cardMessage acknowledging another's grief
scheming · calculating · exploitative · insincere · disingenuous · feigned · pretense · ulterior · contrived · deceptive
- emotional appealsguilt trip, flattery, nostalgia, outrage, scare tactics
- emotional rhetoricpathos, emotional appeal, appeals to emotion, loaded language, loaded words
- street consshell game, three card monte, three-card monte, thimblerig, cups and balls
- lamentslamentation, wailing, keen, keening, lament
- tearjerkerstearjerker, tearjerkers, weepie, weepies, weepy
- melodramavillain, heroine, hero, damsel in distress, happy ending
sob storysuccess story
Narrative of achievement
happy ending · brag · humble brag · boast
sob storysuccess story
Narrative of achievement
comeback story · victory lap · happy ending · underdog story · hero's journey
sobbing, sobs, sobbed, sob sister, sobby