meretricious
/ˌmɛɹɪˈtɹɪʃəs/
meretricious adjective: tastelessly gaudy; superficially attractive but having in reality no value or substance; falsely alluring.
Adjective
meretricious (comparative more meretricious, superlative most meretricious)
- Tastelessly gaudy; superficially attractive but having in reality no value or substance; falsely alluring.
- I discovered even, by his conversation, when intoxicated that his favourites were wantons of the lowest class, who could by their vulgar, indecent mirth, which he called nature, rouse his sluggish spirits. Meretricious ornaments and manners were necessary to attract his attention.1798, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, “[Maria: or, The] Wrongs of Woman”, in W[illiam] Godwin, editor, Posthumous Works of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. […], London: […] J[oseph]...
- It might be reasonably objected elsewhere, that some of the tombs are meretricious and too fanciful; but the general brightness seems to justify it here; and Mount Vesuvius, separated from them by a lovely slope of ground, exalts and saddens the scene.1846, Charles Dickens, Pictures from Italy, London: […] Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC
- Involving unlawful sexual connection or lack of consent by at least one party (said of a romantic relationship).
- Of, or relating to prostitutes or prostitution.
meretricious meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
meretricious in Tamil
- சற்று ஆபாசமாகக் கவர்ந்திழுக்கும், ஆபாசக் கவர்ச்சியான, கவர்ச்சியான, வெளிப்பகட்டான, லீலையான, விலைமாதர் இயல்புகாட்டும்
meretricious in Urdu
- بھڑکیلا, طمطراقی, زرق برق
meretricious in Malayalam
- valueless, worthless, cheap
- കൃത്രിമ ശോഭയുള്ള, ബാഹ്യഭംഗിയുള്ള, പുറംപകിട്ടുള്ള, വിലകെട്ട, വിലയില്ലാത്ത, വിലകുറഞ്ഞ
Examples of meretricious in a sentence
- Gloriani’s statues were florid and meretricious; they looked like magnified goldsmith’s work.1875 January–December, Henry James, Jr., chapter III, in Roderick Hudson, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor &...
- There is nothing showy or meretricious about the man.1885, William Dean Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham:
- I respect and applaud your indifference to fine poetry when you can contemplate the meretricious charms of this young person.1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:
- When I lifted my eyes from the page, there was none of the meretricious argument London always offers that the sole real purpose in life is to hustle for a buck.2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 164:
Synonyms of meretricious
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of meretricious
| comparative | more meretricious |
|---|---|
| superlative | most meretricious |
Origin of meretricious
From Latin meretrīcius, from meretrīx (“harlot, prostitute”), from mereō (“earn, deserve, merit”) (English merit) + -trīx (“(female agent)”) (English -trix).
Words formed from meretricious
Words that rhyme with meretricious
Questions about meretricious
- What does meretricious mean?
- Meretricious means tastelessly gaudy; superficially attractive but having in reality no value or substance; falsely alluring.
- What is meretricious in Tamil?
- Meretricious in Tamil is சற்று ஆபாசமாகக் கவர்ந்திழுக்கும், ஆபாசக் கவர்ச்சியான, கவர்ச்சியான. See Meretricious meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use meretricious in a sentence?
- Gloriani’s statues were florid and meretricious; they looked like magnified goldsmith’s work.
- What part of speech is meretricious?
- Meretricious is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce meretricious?
- Meretricious is pronounced /ˌmɛɹɪˈtɹɪʃəs/.
Words near meretricious in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: meretricious (page history and authors); meretricious (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); meretricious (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); meretricious (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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-us-meretricious.ogg.
Cite this entry: “meretricious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/meretricious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.