gaudy
UK/ˈɡɔːdi/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈɡoːdɪj/
gaudy adjective: very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner.
Adjective
gaudy (comparative gaudier, superlative gaudiest)
- Very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner.
- They were all trapped out in the gaudiest of clothes.
- Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, / But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Fun; merry; festive.
- Let's have one other gaudy night.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- And for my strange petition I will make
Amends hereafter by some gaudy day1859, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page)”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC
Noun (1)
gaudy (plural gaudies)
- One of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited.
- In 1458, the owner of the precious book, which had been taken from the martyr’s body at the block, left a rosary of 50 coral beads with gold gaudies, to his “beloved, most blessed Saint Richard Scrope,” to help in his canonization, with a prayer to God that it might be granted of His great grace.1894, James Hamilton Wylie, History of England under Henry the Fourth, volume 2, pages 356–7
- The circling year was to him like the rosary over which he recited his aves and paternosters; the “gaudies” or larger beads were the holidays set at regular intervals along the string, […]1919, Frederic William Moorman, Plays of the Ridings, pages 8–9
Noun (2)
gaudy (plural gaudies)
- A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally during the long vacation.
- And since then, Mary had married and scarcely been heard of; except that she had haunted the College with a sick persistence, never missing an Old Students’ Meeting or a Gaudy.1935, Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night
gaudy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
gaudy in Hindi
- gaudy, showy, flashy
- भड़कीला bhaṛkīlā
gaudy in Tamil
- வீண் பளப் பளப்பான, வெற்றழகான
gaudy in Urdu
- بدذوق, بھڑ کیلا, چمکیلا, نمائشی, رنگین
gaudy in Malayalam
- അതിമോടിയായ, ആഡംബരമായ, പുറംപകിട്ടുള്ള, വർണ്ണശബളമായ
More languagesFewer languages
- gaudy in Kannada
- ರಬಾರಬಿ, ಅನುಚಿತ ಅಲಂಕಾರದ, ಡೌಲಿನ, ಆಡಂಬರದ ಬಣ್ಣಗಳ
- gaudy in Tagalog
- jologs
Examples of gaudy in a sentence
- A faded, and an ancient dragon he was; and many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of gray.1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […]...
- A large gaudy, flowing cravat, and an ill-used silk hat, set well back on the wearer's head, completed this somewhat noticeable costume.1887, Homer Greene, Burnham Breaker:
- Gaudy jewellery might offend some people's sense of style.2005 January 9, Thomas Hauser, Marilyn Cole Lownes, “How Bling-bling Took Over the Ring”, in The Observer:
- Not to mention he was draped in those gaudy symbols.2007 March 16, Capcom Production Studio 4, quoting Trilo, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All, Europe: Capcom, →OCLC, Nintendo...
Synonyms of gaudy
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of gaudy
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | gaudier |
| superlative | gaudiest |
| Noun | |
| plural | gaudies |
Origin of gaudy
From Middle English gaudi, from Old French gaudie, from Medieval Latin gaudia. equivalent to gaud (“ornament, trinket”) + -y. Alternatively, from Middle English gaudi, gawdy (“yellowish”), from Old French gaude, galde (“weld (the plant)”), from Frankish *walda, from Proto-Germanic *walþō, *walþijō, akin to Old English *weald, *wielde (>Middle English welde, wolde and Anglo-Latin walda (“alum”)), Middle Low German wolde, Middle Dutch woude. More at English weld. A common claim that the word derives from Antoni Gaudí, designer of Barcelona's Sagrada Família Basilica, is incorrect: the word was in use centuries before Gaudí was born.
Borrowed from Latin gaudium (“joy”). Doublet of joy and jo.
Words formed from gaudy
Words that rhyme with gaudy
Questions about gaudy
- What does gaudy mean?
- Gaudy means very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner.
- What is gaudy in Hindi?
- Gaudy in Hindi is भड़कीला (bhaṛkīlā). See Gaudy meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use gaudy in a sentence?
- A faded, and an ancient dragon he was; and many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of gray.
- What part of speech is gaudy?
- Gaudy can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce gaudy?
- Gaudy is pronounced /ˈɡɔːdi/ (UK).
Words near gaudy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gaudy (page history and authors); भड़कीला (Hindi) (page history and authors); gaudy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gaudy (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gaudy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gaudy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-gaudy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gaudy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gaudy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.