1
as in sloppy
lacking neatness in dress or person
a dowdy old matron
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in inappropriate
marked by an obvious lack of style or good taste
the dowdy, beat-up furniture at the cheap motel
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dowdy
Defense leaders have sat on their hands, refusing to acknowledge the need for dowdy, run-of-the-mill tankers.
—
Craig Hooper, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
Machi plays a dowdy tax inspector closing in on a Shakira-style Latina singer for tax fraud.
—Marta Balaga, Variety, 15 May 2025
The dowdy and shy Ursula is diabetic and has lost her eyesight in one eye.
—Michelle F. Solomon, Miami Herald, 15 May 2025
Sadly for such drivers, though, the only mainstream hybrids available in North America are dowdy family cars and boxy SUVs.
—IEEE Spectrum, 31 Mar. 2010
See All Example Sentences for dowdy
Craig Hooper, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
Machi plays a dowdy tax inspector closing in on a Shakira-style Latina singer for tax fraud.
—Marta Balaga, Variety, 15 May 2025
The dowdy and shy Ursula is diabetic and has lost her eyesight in one eye.
—Michelle F. Solomon, Miami Herald, 15 May 2025
Sadly for such drivers, though, the only mainstream hybrids available in North America are dowdy family cars and boxy SUVs.
—IEEE Spectrum, 31 Mar. 2010
See All Example Sentences for dowdy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dowdy
Adjective
-
This team isn’t talented enough to beat the Ravens with errors and sloppy operation.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
30 Oct. 2025
-
Shares of Target have tumbled about 35% in the last year, as its own merchandising issues, a sloppier store experience and boycotts over its rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programs all weigh on its business.—
Melissa Repko,
CNBC,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
This means exposing the shoulders, showing too much leg above the knees, or wearing clothing with crude or inappropriate imagery.—
Asia London Palomba,
Travel + Leisure,
25 Oct. 2025
-
Section 5 would've set new terms for challenging material that anyone may find inappropriate, and ultimately vest public local officials with the power to issue a final ruling on the dispute.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
After Frost’s retirement in 2001, with conglomerates having become deeply unfashionable, other parts of the company were sold and Hays became a focused staffing and recruitment business.—
Ian King,
CNBC,
8 Oct. 2025
-
Whatever Gentiles might have thought in private, the Nazis had made overt antisemitism unfashionable, even odious.—
Ian Buruma,
New Yorker,
22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Few pieces of decor are as dreamy as the ones covered in faux fur, and this shaggy beanbag chair is no exception.—
Erika Owen,
Architectural Digest,
30 Oct. 2025
-
For the event, the actor returned to his shaggy crew cut in his honey blonde hue — coordinating his 'stache and all.—
Skyler Caruso,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
But the movie only gives tiny little tastes of 1982 rock culture, and why Nebraska was so comically unsuitable for airplay.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
2 Nov. 2025
-
This closeness causes gravitational instability that existing planetary formation models have suggested should result in an environment unsuitable for planet formation.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Yet like many other Z&L endeavors in San Jose, that project has fizzled, and the old church remains a forlorn structure next to an unkempt field in downtown San Jose.—
George Avalos,
Mercury News,
23 Oct. 2025
-
They’ve been stigmatized as unkempt or unprofessional, banned in schools and workplaces through discriminatory policies that the CROWN Act was created to dismantle.—
Jailynn Tayor,
Essence,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The Wild earned a power play for the incorrect challenge but couldn’t extend the lead to 2-0.—
Michael Russo,
New York Times,
31 Oct. 2025
-
Trump has also mistakenly claimed that China and Russia are currently testing nuclear weapons and directed the incorrect agency — the Department of War — to resume testing rather than the Department of Energy, which oversees the nation’s nuclear warheads, Sanders-Zakre said.—
Joshua Rhett Miller,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
To Washington, a beard made a man look unkempt and slovenly, masking the higher emotions that civility required.—
Maurizio Valsania,
The Conversation,
2 Oct. 2025
-
The other near certainty in Lead Actor should be Gary Oldman, who anchors Slow Horses with a slovenly charisma that is, against all odds, deeply watchable.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
24 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dowdy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dowdy. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share