mindmap root((俗丽)) gaudy implies a tasteless use of overly bright, often clashing colors or excessive ornamentation: circus performers in ~ costumes. tawdry applies to what is at once gaudy and cheap and sleazy: ~ saloons along the waterfront. garish describes what is distressingly or offensively bright: ~ signs the casinos. flashy implies an effect of brilliance quickly and easily revealed to be shallow or vulgar: a ~ nightclub act with leggy chorus girls. meretricious stresses falsity and may describe a tawdry show that beckons with a false allure or promise: a ~ wasteland of nightclubs and bars.