gar·ish

(gâr′ĭsh, găr′-)

adj.

Overly bright or ornamented, especially in a vulgar or tasteless way; gaudy.

[Origin unknown.]

gar′ish·ly adv.

gar′ish·ness n.

Synonyms: garish, flashy, gaudy¹, loud, tawdry
These adjectives mean tastelessly showy: garish colors; a flashy ring; a gaudy costume; a loud sport shirt; tawdry ornaments.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

garish

(ˈɡɛərɪʃ)

adj

gay or colourful in a crude or vulgar manner; gaudy

[C16: from earlier gaure to stare + -ish]

ˈgarishly adv

ˈgarishness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

gar•ish

(ˈgɛər ɪʃ, ˈgær-)

adj.

1. crudely or tastelessly colorful, showy, or elaborate, as clothes.

2. excessively ornate or elaborate, as buildings or writings.

3. dressed in or ornamented with bright colors.

4. excessively bright; glaring.

[1535–45; perhaps = obsolete gaure to stare (Middle English gauren < Old Norse) + -ish¹]

gar′ish•ly, adv.

gar′ish•ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

garish - tastelessly showy; "a flash car"; "a flashy ring"; "garish colors"; "a gaudy costume"; "loud sport shirts"; "a meretricious yet stylish book"; "tawdry ornaments"

flash, flashy, gaudy, gimcrack, tawdry, trashy, brassy, cheap, loud, meretricious, tacky, tatty

tasteless - lacking aesthetic or social taste

garish

adjective gaudy, bright, glaring, vulgar, brilliant, flash (informal), loud, brash, tacky (informal), flashy, tasteless, naff (Brit. slang), jazzy (informal), tawdry, showy, brassy, raffish garish purple curtains
conservative, quiet, plain, elegant, modest, dull, subtle, refined, sombre, sedate, tasteful, unobtrusive

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

garish

adjective

Tastelessly showy:

brummagem, chintzy, flashy, gaudy, glaring, loud, meretricious, tawdry, tinsel.

Informal: tacky.

Translations

مُبَهْرَج، زاهٍ

křiklavý

grell

criardtape-à-l’œilbariolé barioler

feltűnőízléstelenrikító

óòægilega bjartur/skrautlegur

vistoso

per daug ryškiaiper didelis ryškumas

acīs krītošsspilgts

grell

gräll

cafcaflıcırtlak

过分艳丽的过分装饰的

garish

[ˈgɛərɪʃ] ADJ [colour] → chillón, estridente; [clothing] → chillón, llamativo, charro (LAm)

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

garish

[ˈgɛərɪʃ] adj → criard(e), voyant(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

garish

adj (pej) colours, neon sign → grell, schreiend; clothes → knallbunt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

garish

[ˈgɛərɪʃ] adj → sgargiante, vistoso/a; (light) → abbagliante

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

garish

(ˈgeəriʃ) adjective

unpleasantly bright or showy. His shirts are very garish.

ˈgarishly adverb

ˈgarishness noun

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Quickened his step, and why He looked upon the garish day

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A mania for purchasing spread itself throughout the several bands--munitions for war, for hunting, for gallantry, were seized upon with equal avidity--rifles, hunting knives, traps, scarlet cloth, red blankets, garish beads, and glittering trinkets, were bought at any price, and scores run up without any thought how they were ever to be rubbed off.

View in context

They must look queer in their garish frames on the walls of the peasant house.

View in context

An up-hill and down-hill ride of twenty-odd miles through a garish mid-day atmosphere brought him in the afternoon to a detached knoll a mile or two west of Talbothays, whence he again looked into that green trough of sappiness and humidity, the valley of the Var or Froom.

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He enlarged on the glories of the Rue de la Paix and the garish splendour of the Folies Bergeres.

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It was a land of huge, dark houses and of garish gin-shops, a land, too, where life moves irregularly and where adventures are to be gained--as the Admiral was to learn to his cost.

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They fawned upon him for an invitation to sit at his table and buy beer for him in whatever garish cabaret Michael was performing.

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Across the pier glass had been scrawled with a diamond in staggering letters the name "Marie." It seemed that the succession of dwellers in the furnished room had turned in fury--perhaps tempted beyond forbearance by its garish coldness--and wreaked upon it their passions.

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Against this rude form of domesticity were opposed the chromo-tinted dresses and extravagant complexions of a few single unattended women--happily seen more often at night behind gilded bars than in the garish light of day--and an equal number of pale-faced, dark-moustached, well-dressed, and suspiciously idle men.

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As the night deepened, so deepened to me the interest of the scene; for not only did the general character of the crowd materially alter (its gentler features retiring in the gradual withdrawal of the more orderly portion of the people, and its harsher ones coming out into bolder relief, as the late hour brought forth every species of infamy from its den,) but the rays of the gas-lamps, feeble at first in their struggle with the dying day, had now at length gained ascendancy, and threw over every thing a fitful and garish lustre.

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They like crocus and hyacinth time best of all, as they are partial to a bit of colour, but tulips (except white ones, which are the fairy-cradles) they consider garish, and they sometimes put off dressing like tulips for days, so that the beginning of the tulip weeks is almost the best time to catch them.

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Because it was very quiet and very dark it reminded him more of his beloved African jungle than did the noisy and garish streets surrounding it.

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