1
: clothed in vivid colors
a garish clown
2
a
: excessively or disturbingly vivid
garish colors
garish imagery
b
: offensively or distressingly bright : glaring
3
: tastelessly showy : flashy
garish neon signs
garishly
adverb
garishness
noun
Synonyms
Examples of garish in a Sentence
the wedding guest's thick makeup was garish and unnecessary
Recent Examples on the Web
This car—which appears in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League—feels like a cheap rip-off with its garish armor and exposed machine guns.
—
Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 16 Apr. 2024
Externally, Fessenden delivers some old-fashioned verve to Charley’s handful of transformations: punchy editing, harsh sound, freaky practical effects and Hurt’s physical, raging-drunk abandon under garish mask work.
—Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2024
Instead, this film has the garish lighting, cloying score, and nonsensical plot of a soap opera, without any of the suspense.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 26 Mar. 2024
But amid the war in Ukraine and a tumbling stock market, Reddit decided to hold off on the IPO—which lent the event the quality of a garish head fake, some staffers say.
—Paresh Dave, WIRED, 14 Mar. 2024
While garish new homes and flashy new office buildings are altering the capital’s small-town feel, restaurants and bars are still few in number, and tend to close early.
—Simon Romero Alejandro Cegarra, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2024
The Artist heads to the Bronx, rendered here in garish CGI, to apologize to her younger self.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Feb. 2024
There was something both beautiful and garish about this spectacle.
—Hazlitt, 3 Apr. 2024
The entire warm, emotional end of the show’s spectrum has been lopped off, leaving only black, white and garish yellow.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2024
Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 16 Apr. 2024
Externally, Fessenden delivers some old-fashioned verve to Charley’s handful of transformations: punchy editing, harsh sound, freaky practical effects and Hurt’s physical, raging-drunk abandon under garish mask work.
—Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2024
Instead, this film has the garish lighting, cloying score, and nonsensical plot of a soap opera, without any of the suspense.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 26 Mar. 2024
But amid the war in Ukraine and a tumbling stock market, Reddit decided to hold off on the IPO—which lent the event the quality of a garish head fake, some staffers say.
—Paresh Dave, WIRED, 14 Mar. 2024
While garish new homes and flashy new office buildings are altering the capital’s small-town feel, restaurants and bars are still few in number, and tend to close early.
—Simon Romero Alejandro Cegarra, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2024
The Artist heads to the Bronx, rendered here in garish CGI, to apologize to her younger self.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Feb. 2024
There was something both beautiful and garish about this spectacle.
—Hazlitt, 3 Apr. 2024
The entire warm, emotional end of the show’s spectrum has been lopped off, leaving only black, white and garish yellow.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'garish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near garish
Cite this Entry
“Garish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garish. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
garish
adjective
gar·ish
ˈga(ə)r-ish 
ˈge(ə)r-
: too bright or showy : gaudy
garishly
adverb
garishness
noun
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