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tawdry

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noun

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective tawdry contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of tawdry are flashy, garish, gaudy, and meretricious. While all these words mean "vulgarly or cheaply showy," tawdry applies to what is at once gaudy and cheap and sleazy.

tawdry saloons

When is flashy a more appropriate choice than tawdry?

In some situations, the words flashy and tawdry are roughly equivalent. However, flashy implies an effect of brilliance quickly and easily seen to be shallow or vulgar.

a flashy nightclub act

In what contexts can garish take the place of tawdry?

The meanings of garish and tawdry largely overlap; however, garish describes what is distressingly or offensively bright.

garish neon signs

When is it sensible to use gaudy instead of tawdry?

While in some cases nearly identical to tawdry, gaudy implies a tasteless use of overly bright, often clashing colors or excessive ornamentation.

circus performers in gaudy costumes

When would meretricious be a good substitute for tawdry?

The words meretricious and tawdry can be used in similar contexts, but meretricious stresses falsity and may describe a tawdry show that beckons with a false allure or promise.

a meretricious wasteland of casinos and bars

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 tawdry
Noun
Then there’s the cup holder cover, a small detail, which is tawdry and lets the expensive-feeling cabin down a bit. Matthew MacConnell, Forbes.com, 11 July 2025 Various tawdry plots are picked up and discarded as the story staggers onward. Charlie Lee, Harpers Magazine, 18 June 2025 The film was a hit on 42nd Street, possessing a certain tawdry entertainment value. Katie Rife, IndieWire, 11 June 2025 Born a modest gathering of kindred spirits, the festival hath blossomed into a celebration of the days of yore, where knights do clash, bards sing sweet airs, merchants display their wares most fine and wenches doth tease in tawdry jests. Kirsten Fiscus, Nashville Tennessean, 22 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for tawdry
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tawdry
Adjective
  • Chapter narrators alternate between a homing pigeon and a soldier whose futures intersect in the most terrible of war offensives in France.
    The Know, Denver Post, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Sunday will also be Gabriel’s first NFL start in terrible weather.
    Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 19 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • What was the strategic benefit to the US of all this geopolitical trumpery?
    Peter Bergen, CNN, 28 May 2022
  • So will the border continue to vanish in the face of nativist backlash and a trumpery, gimcrack wall?
    Felipe Fernández-Armesto, WSJ, 25 June 2018
Adjective
  • Porter has been a lead creator before, but that was on cellar-dwelling Houston Rockets squads that became a breeding ground for poor habits.
    Fred Katz, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Young people want better governance and are fed up with suffering from poor services and economies while their leaders get rich around them and inequality grows.
    Elizabeth Shackelford, Twin Cities, 16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Boise State generally made life miserable for Layne, the Idaho Vandals transfer who followed his coach, Jason Eck, from Moscow to Albuquerque.
    Jim Keyser, Idaho Statesman, 12 Oct. 2025
  • Brandon Marsh, who produced after a miserable April, looks more like a strong-side platoon corner outfielder than an everyday center fielder.
    Matt Gelb, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • None of the 95 rooms at this palatial property, which first opened in the 1860s, is the same, and the decor is an eccentric mishmash that combines every era since then, from Victorian fripperies to sinuously streamlined Art Nouveau.
    Laura Dannen Redman, Robb Report, 28 July 2025
  • In tonight’s episode, Aurora has more to worry about than mere frippery.
    Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 30 June 2025
Adjective
  • Across almost 20 novels, the British author spun fantastical tales with unsentimental wit, infusing his work with darkly morbid humor, blithe child endangerment, rotten and antagonistic adults, and a willingness to occasionally laugh at the misfortune of others.
    Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Before storing, get rid of any rotten or damaged tubers.
    Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 17 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Those in the market for some fresh fall finery are in luck.
    Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Trending codes of modern prep are equipping fashion’s beloved horse girl with all of its frills and finery.
    Minty Mellon, Vogue, 9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • As the world searches for alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, researchers are turning to materials that are safer, cheaper, and easier to source.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Financial sacrifices, dilemmas loom Norfolk military families said the shutdown had heightened the stakes of their financial choices, from comparison-shopping for the cheapest toilet paper to frequenting Costco to buy in bulk.
    Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Tawdry.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tawdry. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.

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