tawdry

1 of 2

adjective

taw·​dry ˈtȯ-drē How to pronounce tawdry (audio)
ˈtä-
tawdrier; tawdriest
1
: cheap and gaudy in appearance or quality
tawdry clothing/jewels
tawdry furniture
"Well, I found myself seated in a horrid little private box … I looked out from behind the curtain and surveyed the house. It was a tawdry affair, all Cupids and cornucopias, like a third-rate wedding-cake."Oscar Wilde
Any trip there carries with it more than its share of drabness, tawdry hotels and second-rate service, all of which tax the forbearance of the most patient traveler.John F. Burns
2
: morally sordid, base, or distasteful
a tawdry scandal
a tawdry love affair
a tawdry attempt to smear his opponent
Setting aside the tawdry manner in which his marriage had (publicly) unraveled, the mayor's combative style had begun to grate on many New Yorkers.Jonathan Mahler
tawdrily adverb
tawdriness noun

tawdry

2 of 2

noun

: cheap showy finery

Did you know?

In the 7th century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, renounced her husband and her royal position in order to become a nun. She was renowned for her saintliness and is said to have died of a swelling in her throat, which she took as a judgment upon her fondness for wearing necklaces in her youth. Her shrine became a principal site of pilgrimage in England. An annual fair was held in her honor on October 17th, and her name became simplified to St. Audrey. At these fairs various kinds of cheap knickknacks were sold, along with a type of necklace called St. Audrey's lace, which by the 16th century had become altered to tawdry lace. Eventually, tawdry came to be used to describe anything cheap and gaudy that might be found at these fairs or anywhere else.

Choose the Right Synonym for tawdry

gaudy, tawdry, garish, flashy, meretricious mean vulgarly or cheaply showy.

gaudy implies a tasteless use of overly bright, often clashing colors or excessive ornamentation.

circus performers in gaudy costumes

tawdry applies to what is at once gaudy and cheap and sleazy.

tawdry saloons

garish describes what is distressingly or offensively bright.

garish neon signs

flashy implies an effect of brilliance quickly and easily seen to be shallow or vulgar.

a flashy nightclub act

meretricious stresses falsity and may describe a tawdry show that beckons with a false allure or promise.

a meretricious wasteland of casinos and bars

Examples of tawdry in a Sentence

Adjective The scandal was a tawdry affair.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
The new ones look tawdry and a little swagless, like replica jerseys. Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, 20 Feb. 2024 American Nightmare is a strong offering from what has quickly become a tired and often tawdry documentary genre. Chris Vognar, Rolling Stone, 20 Jan. 2024 Now the tawdry allegations threaten to upend the case, and scrutiny of Wade's role in the case is only mounting. Daniel Klaidman, CBS News, 19 Jan. 2024 For her, of seemingly limitless patience, no human drama was too insignificant, too tawdry, too wretched or alien. Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023 But Scott and screenwriter David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) display a tawdry sense of Western history that is unfortunately in sync with the times. Armond White, National Review, 24 Nov. 2023 In the sin city of the 1990s, casinos had become marked by tawdry décor and all-you-can-eat buffets. Tony Perrottet, Travel + Leisure, 23 Nov. 2023 The family, rather than any one individual, is the best prism through which to look at the whole tawdry enterprise. Rich Lowry, National Review, 1 Oct. 2023 Benson, whose Pretty Little Liars bona fides are a tip-off to the show’s tawdry intentions, never seems wholly comfortable when Cara is just being presented as a walking social-media thirst trap. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tawdry.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

tawdry lace a tie of lace for the neck, from St. Audrey (St. Etheldreda) †679 queen of Northumbria

First Known Use

Adjective

1655, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

circa 1680, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of tawdry was in 1655

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Dictionary Entries Near tawdry

Cite this Entry

“Tawdry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tawdry. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

tawdry

adjective
taw·​dry
ˈtȯd-rē,
ˈtäd-
tawdrier; tawdriest
: cheap and showy
tawdrily
-rə-lē
adverb
tawdriness
-rē-nəs
noun

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