Link Centre Dictionary

meretricious

me·ret·ri·cious

UK/ˌmɛɹɪˈtɹɪʃəs/ US/ˌmɛɹəˈtɹɪʃəs/ uncommon obsolete

adjective

1.

like or relating to a prostitute

  • “meretricious relationships”
2.

tastelessly showy

  • “a flash car”
  • “a flashy ring”
  • “garish colors”
  • “a gaudy costume”
  • “loud sport shirts”
  • “a meretricious yet stylish book”
  • “tawdry ornaments”
Synonyms
Similar
3.

based on pretense; deceptively pleasing

  • “the gilded and perfumed but inwardly rotten nobility”
  • “meretricious praise”
  • “a meretricious argument”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From Latin meretrīcius, from meretrīx (“harlot, prostitute”), from mereō (“earn, deserve, merit”) (English merit) + -trīx (“(female agent)”) (English -trix).

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Word family

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.