gaudy implies a tasteless use of overly bright, often clashing colors or excessive ornamentation.
circus performers in gaudy costumes
tawdry applies to what is at once gaudy and cheap and sleazy.
tawdry saloons
garish describes what is distressingly or offensively bright.
garish neon signs
flashy implies an effect of brilliance quickly and easily seen to be shallow or vulgar.
a flashy nightclub act
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
the wedding guest's thick makeup was garish and unnecessary
Recent Examples on the WebThat is, of course, until the folks at Vanquish Yachts chose to turn their attention to the often garish machine. Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 22 Aug. 2022 The logos weren’t garish, and there was even a brown option with understated gray trim. Wes Siler, Outside Online, 18 Aug. 2022 Even more surprisingly, Psy did it with what amounted to a Korean inside joke: his big hit lampoons the garish and culturally incongruous pretensions of Seoul’s nouveau riche, a class in evidence nowhere more so than Gangnam. Colin Marshall, The New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2022 When the film franchise began, the directors Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher introduced the dark and garish Gotham.New York Times, 20 July 2022 Businesses discover ever more garish ways to seize the attention of passersby. David A. Bell, The New York Review of Books, 3 Aug. 2022 Rather than being a garish hodgepodge of logos and zippers, the Cary is as clean and classic in appearance as my leather briefcase—just built from materials that can withstand a storm. Eric Twardzik, Robb Report, 6 July 2022 Look closer and the perfection of this car is just as shocking as the garish Aston. Brendan Mcaleer, Car and Driver, 3 July 2022 Even as giant residential towers sprang up around Jumbo, its garish neon sign and imperial-style architecture still dominated the skyline around Aberdeen Harbor, on the southwest side of Hong Kong Island. Mike Ives, BostonGlobe.com, 21 June 2022 See More