tawdry
Americanadjective
-
(of finery, trappings, etc.) gaudy; showy and cheap.
- Synonyms:
- meretricious, flashy
- Antonyms:
- elegant
-
low or mean; base.
tawdry motives.
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tawdry
1605–15; short for ( Sain ) t Audrey lace, i.e., neck lace bought at St. Audrey's Fair in Ely, England; so called after St. Audrey ( Old English Aethelthrȳth, died 679), Northumbrian queen and patron saint of Ely, who, according to tradition, died of a throat tumor which she considered just punishment of her youthful liking for neck laces
Explanation
Tawdry means cheap, shoddy, or tasteless. It can be used to describe almost anything from clothes to people to even events or affairs. You know that shiny black slip you picked up for nothing at a garage sale and used as the skirt of your lion-tamer Halloween costume? It's a bit tawdry. But it would really be tawdry if you wore it on a regular day out. Tawdry things often have a hint of desperation and immorality — like tawdry extramarital affairs or tawdry tales. With tawdry decorations and jewelry, quality has been exchanged for lots of flash and shine.
Vocabulary lists containing tawdry
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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For Grilled Cheese Day, Vocab with a Twist
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "T"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tawdry allegations surfaced about CBS’ morning news anchor, Charlie Rose, and Moonves and CBS News executives shoved the legendary newsman out the door.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 13, 2022
Tawdry allegations about his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes — that she had falsified tax forms and been paid consulting fees to influence her future husband, among many other charges — have dogged Kitzhaber.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2015
Tawdry or frivolous, gallant, polemical or profound, the theater is the place where man speaks to man about man in his living presence.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Tawdry taco joints" are everywhere in Southern California.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tawdry adjectives such as 'beautiful', 'lovely,' 'horrid', 'awful', and the like worn tinsel.
From Observations of a Retired Veteran by Tinsley, Henry C.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
