Taw·dry a. [Compar. Tawdrier superl. Tawdriest.]
1. Bought at the festival of St. Audrey. [Obs.]
And gird in your waist,
For more fineness, with a tawdry lace. --Spenser.
2. Very fine and showy in colors, without taste or elegance; having an excess of showy ornaments without grace; cheap and gaudy; as, a tawdry dress; tawdry feathers; tawdry colors.
He rails from morning to night at essenced fops and tawdry courtiers. --Spectator.
tawdry
adj 1: tastelessly showy; "a flash car"; "a flashy ring"; "garish
colors"; "a gaudy costume"; "loud sport shirts"; "a
meretricious yet stylish book"; "tawdry ornaments"
[syn: brassy, cheap, flash, flashy, garish,
gaudy, gimcrack, loud, meretricious, tacky,
tatty, trashy]
2: cheap and shoddy; "cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the
low taste of the mob"- Judith Crist [syn: cheapjack, shoddy]
[also: tawdriest, tawdrier]