Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Showy; flashy; gaudy: Having a cheap, excessive, or tastelessly bright appearance, often intended to attract attention but lacking genuine substance or quality.
   • Overly ornate; florid: Describing language, decoration, or style that is excessively elaborate and artificial, prioritizing superficial form over meaningful content.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Cô ấy mặc bộ váy hoa hoét lòe loẹt. (She is wearing a gaudy, flashy dress.)
  • Bài văn của anh ta nghe rất hoa hoét và rỗng tuếch. (His essay sounds very florid and hollow.)
  • Đừng trang trí hoa hoét quá, đơn giản một chút. (Don't decorate too showily, keep it a bit simpler.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is inherently critical and carries a negative, mocking, or dismissive connotation. It implies that something is not just decorative, but tastelessly and deceptively so, often to mask a lack of real value.

Variants and Related Words

• Hoa hoè hoa sói (idiomatic phrase): An extended, more emphatic variant meaning excessively and ridiculously showy or flashy.
  • Cửa hàng đó treo đèn hoa hoè hoa sói. (That shop hangs ridiculously flashy lights.)

Synonyms

• Gaudy: Extravagantly bright or showy, typically so as to be tasteless.
• Flashy: Attracting attention by being bright, expensive, or ostentatious.
• Florid: Having a red or flushed complexion, or (of language) excessively intricate or elaborate.
• Ostentatious: Characterized by vulgar or pretentious display; designed to impress or attract notice.

Related Idioms

• Hoa hoét hoa hoe: A reinforcing idiom similar to "hoa hoè hoa sói," emphasizing something is all superficial show and pretense.
  • Anh ta nói chuyện hoa hoét hoa hoe, chẳng có nội dung gì. (He talks in a flashy, pretentious way with no real content.)

adj

1. showry