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Gaudy vs Sham - What's the difference?

gaudy | sham | Synonyms |

Gaudy is a synonym of sham.


As an adjective gaudy

is very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner.

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.

As a proper noun sham is

syria.

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.
  • sham

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Intended to deceive; false.
  • It was only a sham wedding: they didn't care much for one another but wanted their parents to stop hassling them.
  • counterfeit; unreal
  • * Jowett
  • They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by the Athenians.

    Synonyms

    * mock * See also

    Antonyms

    * genuine * sincere * real

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fake; an imitation that purports to be genuine.
  • The time-share deal was a sham .
  • Trickery, hoaxing.
  • A con-man must be skilled in the arts of sham and deceit.
  • A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
  • A decorative cover for a pillow.
  • Derived terms

    * shamateur

    See also

    * pillow sham

    Verb

    (shamm)
  • To deceive, cheat, lie.
  • * L'Estrange
  • Fooled and shammed into a conviction.
  • To obtrude by fraud or imposition.
  • * L'Estrange
  • We must have a care that we do not sham fallacies upon the world for current reason.
  • To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign.
  • Anagrams

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