Tawdry

/ˈtɔːdɹi/ · noun

Meaning

(obsolete) Tawdry lace..

Definitions by Sense

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

Example Sentences

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 […].

The rest of his dress—a dress always sufficiently tawdry—was overcharged with lace, embroidery, and ornament of every kind, and the plume of feathers which he wore was so high, as if intended to sweep the roof of the hall.

This wasn't really a room for me; the green curtains before the windows were rather tawdry, and there was anything but an abundance of nails on the walls for hanging one's wardrobe.

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.

So now you just want cheap thrills and plenty of 'em and it don't^([sic]) matter how tawdry or vacuous they are as long as it's new, as long as it's new, as long as it flashes and fucking bleeps in 40 fucking different colours.

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

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

After months of flat-out lying to the public, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally copped to having a sleazy extramarital fling […] The tawdry affair has dogged Edwards over the past few months.

Synonyms for tawdry

Antonyms for tawdry

Related Words

Word Forms

• tawdries
• tawdrier
• tawdriest

Usage Notes

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