tawdry

plural tawdries

1. countableobsoleteuncountableTawdry lace.First known use 17th c.
2. countableobsoleteuncountableAnything gaudy and cheap; pretentious finery.First known use 17th–19th c.

   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, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXV”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: cheapie, gaud, tack, cheapie, cheapo, tack, ticky-tack

comparative tawdrier · superlative tawdriest

1. Of clothing, appearance, etc., cheap and gaudy; showy.

   It was all cheap and incredibly tawdry, from the festoons of paper roses on the walls to the flash of paste jewels in make-believe crowns.

   1917, Alice Hegan Rice, chapter 20, in Calvary Alley

   3 more examples

   The rest of his dress—a dress always sufficiently tawdry—was overcharged with lace, embroidery, and ornament of every kind, and the plume of feathers which he wore was so high, as if intended to sweep the roof of the hall.

   1823, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 33, in Quentin Durward

   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, Knut Hamsen, translated by Sverre Lyngstad, Sult (Hunger), Paperback, 2016 edition, Canongate Books, Ltd., Part One, page 34

   So now you just want cheap thrills and plenty of 'em and it don't^([sic]) matter how tawdry or vacuous they are as long as it's new, as long as it's new, as long as it flashes and fucking bleeps in 40 fucking different colours.

   1993, Mike Leigh, Naked, spoken by Johnny (David Thewlis)

   Synonyms: bedizened, blatant, blingish, brash, campy, catchpenny, chichi, chintzy

2. Of a character, behavior, or situation, etc., unseemly, base, mean-spirited, shameful.

   The woman's passion by his side seemed suddenly tawdry and unreal, the seeking of her lips for his something horrible.

   1920, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 16, in The Great Impersonation

   2 more examples

   [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, Stewart Edward White, chapter 1, in The Forty-Niners

   After months of flat-out lying to the public, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally copped to having a sleazy extramarital fling […] The tawdry affair has dogged Edwards over the past few months.

   2008 August 9, Clemente Lisi, “Lusty Lies of Don Juan John”, in New York Post, retrieved 16 Dec 2013

   Synonyms: sordid