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Gaudy vs Extravagant - What's the difference?

gaudy | extravagant |

Extravagant is a antonym of gaudy.



As adjectives the difference between gaudy and extravagant

is that gaudy is very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner while extravagant is exceeding the bounds of something; roving; hence, foreign.

As a noun gaudy

is one of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited.

gaudy

English

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain; perhaps from . A common claim that the word derives from , is not supported by evidence (the word was in use at least half a century before Gaudí was born).

Adjective

(er)
  • very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner
  • * Shakespeare
    • Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, / But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy .
  • * 1813 , , Pride and Prejudice
    • The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings.
  • * 1887 , Homer Greene, Burnham Breaker
    • A large gaudy , flowing cravat, and an ill-used silk hat, set well back on the wearer's head, completed this somewhat noticeable costume.
  • * 2005 , Thomas Hauser & Marilyn Cole Lownes, "How Bling-bling Took Over the Ring", The Observer , 9 January 2005
    • Gaudy jewellery might offend some people's sense of style. But former heavyweight champion and grilling-machine entrepreneur George Foreman is philosophical about today's craze for bling-bling.
  • (obsolete) gay; merry; festive
    • (Tennyson)
  • * Shakespeare
    • Let's have one other gaudy night.
  • * Twain
    • And then, there he was, slim and handsome, and dressed the gaudiest and prettiest you ever saw...
    Synonyms
    * (excessively showy) tawdry, flashy, garish, kitschy *
    Derived terms
    * gaudily * gaudy night

    Noun

    (gaudies)
  • One of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited.
    • (Gower)

    Etymology 2

    From Latin gaudium "joy".

    Noun

    (gaudies)
  • A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally held during the summer vacations.

    • extravagant

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Exceeding the bounds of something; roving; hence, foreign.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • The extravagant and erring spirit hies / To his confine.
  • Extreme; wild; excessive; unrestrained.
  • * Addison
    • There appears something nobly wild and extravagant in great natural geniuses.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
    • , title=(The China Governess), chapter=1 citation , passage=The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […] The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.}}
  • Exorbitant.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.}}
  • Profuse in expenditure; prodigal; wasteful.
    • (Bancroft)

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Related terms

    * vagabond * extravagance

    External links

    * * ----