Tawdry

Quick meaning: Tawdry is a noun meaning Of clothing, appearance, etc., cheap and gaudy; showy.

Meaning

Of clothing, appearance, etc., cheap and gaudy; showy.

More Meanings

1. Of a character, behavior, or situation, etc., unseemly, base, mean-spirited, shameful.
2. (obsolete) Tawdry lace.
3. (obsolete) Anything gaudy and cheap; pretentious finery.

Example Sentences

The woman's passion by his side seemed suddenly tawdry and unreal, the seeking of her lips for his something horrible.

It was all cheap and incredibly tawdry, from the festoons of paper roses on the walls to the flash of paste jewels in make-believe crowns.

That fiddling, parading fellow (you know who I mean) made us wait for him two hours […] only for the sake of having a little more tawdry upon his housings […].

[T]he "greaser" was a dirty, idle, shiftless, treacherous, tawdry vagabond, dwelling in a disgracefully primitive house, and backward in every aspect of civilization.

Word Forms

• tawdries
• tawdrier
• tawdriest

Synonyms for tawdry

Depending on context, synonyms include cheapie, gaud, tack, cheapo, ticky-tack, bedizened.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include gimcrack, tacky, garish, gaudy, meretricious, trashy.

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