Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Superficially attractive but having no real value or integrity; flashy, gaudy, or tawdry: Something described as "meretricious" appears attractive or plausible on the surface but is actually based on falseness, deception, or poor taste.
   • (Archaic) Of or relating to a prostitute: This older meaning pertains to the nature of prostitution.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The building's facade was decorated with meretricious ornaments that looked cheap up close.
  • He was unimpressed by the politician's meretricious promises, which lacked any substantive policy.
  • The critic dismissed the popular novel as meretricious, arguing it was stylish but ultimately shallow.

Advanced Usage

• "meretricious charm": A deceptive or insincere attractiveness.
  • The salesman's meretricious charm failed to win over the skeptical investors.
• "meretricious display": A showy or gaudy presentation intended to impress but lacking genuine quality.
  • The art exhibit was criticized for its meretricious display of wealth rather than artistic merit.

Variants and Related Words

• Meretriciously (adverb): In a meretricious manner.
  • The room was meretriciously decorated with plastic gems and gold paint.
• Meretriciousness (noun): The quality of being meretricious.
  • The meretriciousness of the advertisement was obvious to discerning viewers.

Synonyms

• Flashy: Ostentatious and designed to attract attention.
• Gaudy: Extravagantly bright or showy, typically so as to be tasteless.
• Tawdry: Showy but cheap and of poor quality.
• Specious: Superficially plausible, but actually wrong or misleading.
• Garish: Obtrusively bright and showy; lurid.

Antonyms

• Genuine: Truly what something is said to be; authentic.
• Tasteful: Showing good aesthetic judgment or appropriate behavior.
• Substantial: Of considerable importance, size, or worth.
• Unadorned: Not decorated; plain.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "All that glitters is not gold": This proverb shares the core idea of "meretricious," warning that a shiny, attractive exterior may hide something worthless. A meretricious object is a perfect example of this concept.

Adjective

1. based on pretense; deceptively pleasing
   • the gilded and perfumed but inwardly rotten nobility
   • meretricious praise
   • a meretricious argument
2. tastelessly showy
   • a flash car
   • a flashy ring
   • garish colors
   • a gaudy costume
   • loud sport shirts
   • a meretricious yet stylish book
   • tawdry ornaments
3. like or relating to a prostitute
   • meretricious relationships