tawdry

Meaning

Adj

1. (usually) Cheap and gaudy; showy.
2. (usually) Unseemly, base, mean-spirited, shameful.

Noun

1. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Tawdry lace.
2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Anything gaudy and cheap; pretentious finery.

Synonyms

gaudy

flashy

cheap

tacky

garish

brassy

tatty

trashy

flash

meretricious

loud

trumpery

cheapjack

shoddy

gimcrack

ornate

tinsel

showy

tinselly

vain

vainglorious

vile

Brummagem

cheap-looking

chaffy

cheesy

cock-a-hoop

common

crowing

dirty

fancy

flamboyant

flaunty

frippery

general

highfalutin

ignoble

insignificant

jazzy

scurvy

sordid

Translations

kitschig

tapageur

voyant

chillón

vistoso

espalhafatoso e mixuruca

sgargiante

flitterhaft

criard

opzichtig

smakeloos

billig

espalhafatoso

vistoso

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈtɔːdɹi/

Etymology

Cognate with Old English: Æðelþryð

In summary

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”.