gaudy
/ˈɡoːdi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.83 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner.
noun
A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally during the long vacation.
Example Sentences
- "They were all trapped out in the gaudiest of clothes."
- "Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, / But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy."
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
- "A large gaudy, flowing cravat, and an ill-used silk hat, set well back on the wearer's head, completed this somewhat noticeable costume."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡoːdi/
- British English: /ˈɡɔːdi/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
gaudy night