MEANING
Cheaply showy and lacking taste or dignity.
Use it for
Cheap spectacle; gaudy leisure venues; pretensions of luxuryShow the gap between an intended glamour and the impression it actually creates.
Words that belong together
- tawdry glamour
- tawdry resort
- tawdry surroundings
On the page
The resort's tawdry glamour depended on glittering signs and imitation marble.
She found the club tawdrier than its photographs suggested.
Calling the fairground tawdry, he missed the pleasure it gave local families.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- tawdry
Usage notes
Primary category: setting. Can refer to gaudy surroundings or disreputable affairs. Unlike shabby, often includes an attempt at display; evaluative and potentially snobbish. Comparative: tawdrier; superlative: tawdriest.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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