tawdry /ˈtɔːdɹi/adjective 2noun 2forms 3 adjective2 •Of clothing, appearance, etc., cheap and gaudy; showy.This wasn't really a room for me; the green curtains before the windows were rather tawdry, and there was anything but an abundance of nails on the walls for hanging one's wardrobe. — 1890 •Of a character, behavior, or situation, etc., unseemly, base, mean-spirited, shameful.[T]he "greaser" was a dirty, idle, shiftless, treacherous, tawdry vagabond, dwelling in a disgracefully primitive house, and backward in every aspect of civilization. — 1918 noun2 •(no longer used) Tawdry lace. •(no longer used) Anything gaudy and cheap; pretentious finery.That fiddling, parading fellow (you know who I mean) made us wait for him two hours […] only for the sake of having a little more tawdry upon his housings […]. — 1748 formstawdries · tawdrier · tawdriest
