tawdry
/ˈtɔːdɹi//ˈtɔ.dɹi/
tawdry noun: tawdry lace.
Noun
tawdry (countable and uncountable, plural tawdries)
- Tawdry lace.
- Anything gaudy and cheap; pretentious finery.
- That fiddling, parading fellow (you know who I mean) made us wait for him two hours […] only for the sake of having a little more tawdry upon his housings […].1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXV”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […]...
- Synonyms:
- cheapie, gaud, tack, cheapo, ticky-tack
Adjective
tawdry (comparative tawdrier, superlative tawdriest)
- Of clothing, appearance, etc., cheap and gaudy; showy.
- The rest of his dress—a dress always sufficiently tawdry—was overcharged with lace, embroidery, and ornament of every kind, and the plume of feathers which he wore was so high, as if intended to sweep the roof of the hall.1823, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 33, in Quentin Durward
- This wasn't really a room for me; the green curtains before the windows were rather tawdry, and there was anything but an abundance of nails on the walls for hanging one's wardrobe.1890, Knut Hamsen, translated by Sverre Lyngstad, Sult (Hunger), Paperback, 2016 edition, Canongate Books, Ltd., Part One, page 34
- Of a character, behavior, or situation, etc., unseemly, base, mean-spirited, shameful.
- [T]he "greaser" was a dirty, idle, shiftless, treacherous, tawdry vagabond, dwelling in a disgracefully primitive house, and backward in every aspect of civilization.1918, Stewart Edward White, chapter 1, in The Forty-Niners
- The woman's passion by his side seemed suddenly tawdry and unreal, the seeking of her lips for his something horrible.1920, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 16, in The Great Impersonation
- Synonyms:
- sordid
tawdry meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
tawdry in Tamil
- போலிப் பகட்டுப்பொருள், தகுதியற்ற பகட்டணி, ஒப்பணைப் பண்பு, வெறும் பகட்டான, உள்ளீடற்ற, போலித் தோற்றமுடைய
tawdry in Urdu
- بھدا, بھڑکیلا, بھونڈا, چمکیلا
tawdry in Malayalam
- പുറംപകിട്ടുമാത്രമുളള, വർണ്ണമോടിയുള്ള, രസമില്ലാത്ത
Examples of tawdry in a sentence
- Symmetrophiles calibrated to the milieu were skeletal sloops rigged with prettily cut jibs and tawdry spinnakers.
- But the rescheduling of the directors' meeting for 7.30 a.m., and the trotting-out of such tawdry pabulums?
- Continuous revolution goes on and you're not with it with your alcoholic, tawdry, self-indulgent subculture.
Synonyms of tawdry
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of tawdry
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tawdries |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | tawdrier |
| superlative | tawdriest |
Origin of tawdry
Shortened from tawdry lace; originally a corruption and rebracketing of Saint Audrey lace (from Old English Æðelþrȳð). The lace necklaces sold to pilgrims to Saint Audrey fell out of fashion in the 17th century, and so tawdry was reinterpreted as meaning “cheap” or “vulgar”.
Words formed from tawdry
Phrases with tawdry
Words that rhyme with tawdry
Questions about tawdry
- What does tawdry mean?
- Tawdry means tawdry lace.
- What is tawdry in Tamil?
- Tawdry in Tamil is போலிப் பகட்டுப்பொருள், தகுதியற்ற பகட்டணி, ஒப்பணைப் பண்பு. See Tawdry meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is tawdry?
- Tawdry can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce tawdry?
- Tawdry is pronounced /ˈtɔːdɹi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of tawdry?
- The plural of tawdry is tawdries.
Words near tawdry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tawdry (page history and authors); tawdry (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tawdry (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tawdry (Malayalam 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tawdry.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-tawdry.wav.
Cite this entry: “tawdry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tawdry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.