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
Adjective The showgirls wore gaudy costumes. They bought the house for a gaudy sum.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
The final numbers were gaudy against a Utah State offense that averaged 449 yards a game last year and rolled up 542 last week against UConn. Michael Casagrande | Mcasagrande@al.com, al, 4 Sep. 2022 Along with the gaudy round of features, Drillmatic will also boast a blue-chip appearance in Hit-Boy, serving as the project’s executive producer. Carl Lamarre, Billboard, 11 Aug. 2022 Those teams not only produced gaudy stats but numerous coaches, starting with Leach’s first star quarterback at Texas Tech: Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury, who also did a stint leading his alma mater and tutoring Patrick Mahomes in Lubbock. Ralph D. Russo, Chron, 25 Aug. 2022 Sometimes those limits are very broad, as when the flat screen is adorned with touches and flashes, gaudy baubles and coruscating illusions, of enticing and entrancing flair. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2022 Some took place over the phone, others in hair salons with gaudy chandeliers and floating mirrors, a few over text and Instagram DMs. Luna Adler, Glamour, 26 July 2022 In his giddy, gaudy way, Berkeley pursued his obsessions in a style that reflected his own thrill in his visions—and their inseparability from thought and instinct alike. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 23 July 2022 The Yankees begin the second half with a gaudy 64-28 record and a whopping 13-game lead over Tampa Bay. Creg Stephenson | Cstephenson@al.com, al, 21 July 2022 The staging may occasionally bring back flashbacks of the Valentine’s Day aisle of your local pharmacy, but the gaudy rakishness seems right at home at the Pantages.Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2022
Noun
Biloxi, with its gaudy, windowless casinos and all the usual beach-town attractions, is just a 10-minute drive away, but in Ocean Springs the scene is quite different. Chelsea Brasted, WSJ, 19 Aug. 2022 The notion of the Mets carrying both a healthy deGrom and Scherzer (8-2, 1.98 ERA, 120 strikeouts) into October should be terrifying to the opposition, including those gaudy, NL-leading Dodgers. Jason Gay, WSJ, 8 Aug. 2022 But their gaudy totals are a testament to performance-enhancing drugs and baseball’s willingness to look the other way rather than genuine achievement. Rich Lowry, National Review, 26 July 2022 Melendez is a bat-first prospect, a right-handed hitting slugger who won the Golden Spikes Award after posting a gaudy numbers, including leading all of Division 1 baseball with 32 home runs. Nick Piecoro, The Arizona Republic, 17 July 2022 Hernández has posted a gaudy .383/.403/.624 line with seven homers in his last 36 contests, cutting his strikeout rate to 13.3 percent. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 7 July 2022 Season 1 took place on Deborah’s home turf — largely in her gaudy mansion, in fact, which Ava snidely compared to the Cheesecake Factory.Washington Post, 11 May 2022 Doncic has been putting up preposterous numbers, even by his gaudy standards.New York Times, 5 May 2022 Those gaudy figures came largely in the form of stock options, which means the take-home pay could shrink if the market takes a nosedive, but both men are still among the most richly remunerated in this or any industry. Brent Lang, Variety, 30 Apr. 2022 See More