gaudy

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɡɔ.di/ UK /ˈɡɔː.di/ See IPA manual

Freq #30413

Meanings

1

adj
Too bright or showy in a way that lacks taste.

She wore a gaudy dress covered in sequins and bright colours.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · too bright or showy in a... flashy garish tawdry loud

More bedizenedblatantblingishbrashcampycatchpenny chichichintzycorny crass crude flaunting

Opposites

unadorned

Word family

Forms gaudiergaudiestgaudily

Derived forms gaudifygaudilygaudinessungaudy

Related forms multicolored

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

gaudy costume
An outfit that is excessively bright, ornate, or showy.

Adjective + noun

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 i…

gaudi Middle English gaudie Old French gaudia la-lat gaude Old French *walda frk *walþō Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# gaudy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈɡɔ.di/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɡɔː.di/
**Frequency rank:** 30413

## Meanings
1. Too bright or showy in a way that lacks taste.

## Examples
- She wore a gaudy dress covered in sequins and bright colours.

## Synonyms
- bedizened
- blatant
- blingish
- brash
- campy
- catchpenny
- chichi
- chintzy
- corny
- crass
- crude
- flaunting

## Antonyms
- unadorned

## Derived Forms
- gaudify
- gaudily
- gaudiness
- ungaudy

## Related Forms
- multicolored

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: gaudi
- Root: gaudie
- Root: gaudia
- Root: gaude
- Root: *walda
- Root: *walþō

## 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 i…

## AI Etymology
Gaudy comes 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. In current use, the main sense is “Too bright or showy in a way that lacks taste”.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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