tawdry 1 of 2

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
For every stodgy conservator who might consider the guitar a tawdry, lowbrow diversion, there’s a cultural critic who dismisses it as an object of boomer nostalgia, about as musically relevant in this post-rockist era as the harpsichord. Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker, 19 May 2025 But our concern is not with tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes, and ball gowns. Steve Weisman, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025 The rescue of the redevelopment of the tawdry Coliseum site, the city’s third-rate convention center at Columbus Circle, is a stunning example of his skill at design and communication. Ed Wallace, New York Daily News, 14 Apr. 2025 The party scenes are tawdry, with flappers frenetically jiggling, their underwear peeking out and soused guests making spectacles of themselves. Danielle Teller, People.com, 10 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for tawdry
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tawdry
Adjective
  • Rarely great, and consistently cringey in that NHL way we’re used to by now, but rarely terrible.
    Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 28 June 2025
  • Even the ones that aren’t strictly evil in the biblical sense are often prone to doing terrible things.
    Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 27 June 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
  • The key drivers are BGE’s soaring spending and profits and poor management by PJM Interconnection, the private entity that operates our electric grid.
    Emily Scarr, Baltimore Sun, 29 June 2025
  • Despite having a poor 2024 season that saw the Pirates remove Bednar from the closer role, the right-hander is back to his dominant form.
    Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 June 2025
Adjective
  • Championship-only fandom is a largely miserable existence.
    Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 19 June 2025
  • Unexpectedly miserable league seasons last time around for Tottenham and Manchester United — the final opponents at the Amex Stadium next May — are another reason why forecasting is hazardous, especially in Brighton’s case.
    Andy Naylor, New York Times, 18 June 2025
Noun
  • Buying the Original marks you as a practical person who cares not for frippery.
    Matthew Korfhage, Wired News, 19 Apr. 2025
  • But who has time for all of that frippery, anyway, when war’s a-comin’?
    Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • The smell won’t be as sweet, maybe a little rotten.
    Jessica Farthing, Southern Living, 21 June 2025
  • In two particularly egregious examples involving baby products described to CNBC, Amazon sent customers used diapers and a chiller with someone else’s rotten breastmilk inside.
    Katie Tarasov, CNBC, 21 June 2025
Noun
  • Of course, all this finery depended upon the relentless slaughter of elephants, their tusks brutally torn off, leaving the animals virtually defenseless, or often dead.
    Anthony R. Cannella, Hartford Courant, 13 June 2025
  • Greeting you upon arrival is a small army of attendants, dressed in Dior finery, who usher you into the expansive waiting area.
    Liam Hess, Vogue, 3 June 2025
Adjective
  • These Golden Hour Savings deals bring these loafers’ price tag down to as low as $52, which is much cheaper than most leather (or vegan leather) loafers.
    Katie Decker-Jacoby, StyleCaster, 26 June 2025
  • However, thimerosal is more common elsewhere in the world for various multi-dose vaccine vials, which are cheaper than the single-dose vials more commonly used in the US.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 26 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Tawdry.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tawdry. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.

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