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Gaudy vs Meretricious - What's the difference?

gaudy | meretricious |

In context|obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between gaudy and meretricious

is that gaudy is (obsolete) gay; merry; festive while meretricious is (obsolete) of, or relating to prostitutes or prostitution.

As adjectives the difference between gaudy and meretricious

is that gaudy is very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner while meretricious is (obsolete) of, or relating to prostitutes or prostitution.

As a noun gaudy

is one of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited or gaudy can be a reunion held by one of the colleges of the university of oxford for alumni, normally held during the summer vacations.

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.
  • meretricious

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Of, or relating to prostitutes or prostitution.
  • Tastelessly gaudy; superficially attractive but having in reality no value or substance; falsely alluring.
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.}}
  • * 2006 , (Clive James), North Face of Soho , Picador 2007, p. 164:
  • When I lifted my eyes from the page, there was none of the meretricious argument London always offers that the sole real purpose in life is to hustle for a buck.

    Synonyms

    * (tastelessly showy) brassy, cheap, flashy, garish, gaudy, gimcrack, tacky, tatty, tawdry, trashy