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tawdry

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.57 sec.
taw·dry  (tôdr)
adj. taw·dri·er, taw·dri·est
1. Gaudy and cheap in nature or appearance. See Synonyms at gaudy1.
2. Shameful or indecent: tawdry secrets.
n.
Cheap and gaudy finery.

[From tawdry lace, lace necktie, alteration of Saint Audrey's lace (sold at the annual Saint Audrey's fair, Ely, England), after Saint Audrey (Saint Etheldreda), queen of Northumbria, who died in 679 of a throat tumor, supposedly because she delighted in fancy necklaces as a young woman.]

tawdri·ly adv.
tawdri·ness n.

tawdry
Adjective
[-drier, -driest] cheap, showy, and of poor quality: tawdry Christmas decorations [Middle English seynt Audries lace, finery sold at the fair of St Audrey]
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.tawdrytawdry - tastelessly showy; "a flash car"; "a flashy ring"; "garish colors"; "a gaudy costume"; "loud sport shirts"; "a meretricious yet stylish book"; "tawdry ornaments"
tasteless - lacking aesthetic or social taste
2.tawdry - cheap and shoddy; "cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the low taste of the mob"- Judith Crist
inferior - of low or inferior quality

tawdry
adjective vulgar, cheap, tacky (informal) flashy, tasteless, plastic (slang) glittering, naff Brit. (slang) gaudy, tatty, showy, tinsel, raffish, gimcrack, meretricious, tinselly, cheap-jack (informal) << OPPOSITE stylish
Translations
Spanish tawdry [ˈtɔːdrɪ] adjde mal gusto
French tawdry [ˈtɔːdrɪ] adj(d'un mauvais goût) criard
German tawdry [ˈtɔːdrɪ] adjbillig
Italian tawdry [ˈtɔːdrɪ] adjpacchiano/a

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I wanted no plot by the time she reached her destination, a street of tawdry shops.
Long lines of dull brick houses were only relieved by the coarse glare and tawdry brilliancy of public houses at the corner.
Look what a tawdry and vulgar thing an embroidered slipper is on a woman's foot.
 
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