Gaudy Meaning

/ˈɡɔː.di/
C1

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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

adjFun; merry; festive.

Stick to jackets that aren't too gaudy.
He slipped the gaudy shirt on.
Don't you think that necklace is a bit gaudy?
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
She wore a ____ dress with bright colors and shiny beads.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The room was decorated with ____ ornaments that were far too bright and flashy for most people's taste.

From Middle English gaudi, from Old French gaudie, from Medieval Latin gaudia. equivalent to gaud (“ornament, trinket”) + -y. Alternatively, from Middle English gaudi, gawdy (“yellowish”), from Old French gaude, galde (“weld (the plant)”), from Frankish *walda, from Proto-Germanic *walþō, *walþijō, akin to Old English *weald, *wielde (>Middle English welde, wolde and Anglo-Latin walda (“alum”)), Middle Low German wolde, Middle Dutch woude. More at English weld. A common claim that the word derives from Antoni Gaudí, designer of Barcelona's Sagrada Família Basilica, is incorrect: the word was in use centuries before Gaudí was born.

"Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, / But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy." — c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
"Though, I confeſs, Paris has its Charms; but to me they are like thoſe of a Coquette, gay and gavvdy; they ſerve to amuſe vvith, but a Man vvould not chuſe to be marry'd to them." — 1721, [Colley] Cibber, The Refusal; or, The Ladies Philosophy: A Comedy. […], London: […] B[arnaby Bernard] Lintot, […]; W[illiam] Mears, […]; and W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 2:
"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." — 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
"A faded, and an ancient dragon he was; and many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of gray." — 1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 19:
"A large gaudy, flowing cravat, and an ill-used silk hat, set well back on the wearer's head, completed this somewhat noticeable costume." — 1887, Homer Greene, Burnham Breaker:

Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
She wore a ____ dress with bright colors and shiny beads.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The room was decorated with ____ ornaments that were far too bright and flashy for most people's taste.

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