gaudy
English · Thesaurus
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gaudy¹
- /ˈɡɔːdi/ Northern England, UK
- /ˈɡoːdɪj/ British, Southern, Standard
- /ˈɡɔ.de/ Scotland, UK
- /-dɪ/ Scotland, UK
- /-di/ Scotland, UK
- /ˈɡɔ.di/ US
- /ˈɡɑ.di/ US, cot caught merger
- /ˈɡoːdi/ Australia, New Zealand
Rhymes with -ɔːdi
Where it comes from
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.
adjective gaudier · gaudiest
- Very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner. They were all trapped out in the gaudiest of clothes.
- Fun; merry; festive. Let's have one other gaudy night.
Similar: bedizened, blatant, blingish, brash, campy, catchpenny, chichi, chintzy, corny, crass, crude, flaunting, florid, flossy, froufrou, gauche, gaudy, gay, glaring, gross, gussied up, hideous, kitsch, loud, meretricious, naff, obtrusive, ostentatious, pimped out, pizazzy · Opposite: unadorned
noun gaudies
- One of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited. In 1458, the owner of the precious book, which had been taken from the martyr’s body at the block, left a rosary of 50 coral beads with gold gaudies, to his “beloved, most blessed Saint Richard Scrope,” to help in his canonization, with a prayer to God that it might be granted of His great grace.
gaudy²
- /ˈɡɔːdi/ Northern England, UK
- /ˈɡoːdɪj/ British, Southern, Standard
- /ˈɡɔ.de/ Scotland, UK
- /-dɪ/ Scotland, UK
- /-di/ Scotland, UK
- /ˈɡɔ.di/ US
- /ˈɡɑ.di/ US, cot caught merger
- /ˈɡoːdi/ Australia, New Zealand
Rhymes with -ɔːdi
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Latin gaudium (“joy”). Doublet of joy and jo.
noun gaudies
- A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally during the long vacation. And since then, Mary had married and scarcely been heard of; except that she had haunted the College with a sick persistence, never missing an Old Students’ Meeting or a Gaudy.
Thesaurus
adjective
Similar: bedizened, blatant, blingish, brash, campy, catchpenny, chichi, chintzy, corny, crass, crude, flaunting, florid, flossy, froufrou, gauche, gaudy, gay, glaring, gross, gussied up, hideous, kitsch, loud, meretricious, naff, obtrusive, ostentatious, pimped out, pizazzy · Opposite: unadorned
Translations
Every language
adj very showy or ornamented
| Español | llamativo, vistoso, sobrecargado, vulgar, feúcho, chillón |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | どぎつい dogitsui, 派手な hade-na, けばけばしい kebakebashii, あくどい akudoi |
| 中文 | 俗麗 /俗丽 súlì, 俗艷 /俗艳 súyàn, 花哨 huāshao, 花俏 huāqiào |
| Português | espalhafatoso, vistoso, chamativo |
| Français | voyant, criard, surfait, kitsch, vulgaire |
| Deutsch | knallig, grell, protzig, kitschig, aufsehenerregend, knallbunt |
| Italiano | chiassoso, vistoso, sgargiante, appariscente, pacchiano |
| Română | împopoțonat, înzorzonat, kitsch |
| Русский | цвета́стый cvetástyj, крича́щий kričáščij, безвку́сный bezvkúsnyj, аляпова́тый aljapovátyj |
Talk about this word "gaudy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gaudy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. gaudy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gaudy "gaudy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gaudy.Cite this
@misc{gaudy_2026,
title = {gaudy},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gaudy},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
