Search Result for "meretricious": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (3)

1. like or relating to a prostitute;
- Example: "meretricious relationships"

2. tastelessly showy;
- Example: "a flash car"
- Example: "a flashy ring"
- Example: "garish colors"
- Example: "a gaudy costume"
- Example: "loud sport shirts"
- Example: "a meretricious yet stylish book"
- Example: "tawdry ornaments"
[syn: brassy, cheap, flash, flashy, garish, gaudy, gimcrack, loud, meretricious, tacky, tatty, tawdry, trashy]

3. based on pretense; deceptively pleasing;
- Example: "the gilded and perfumed but inwardly rotten nobility"
- Example: "meretricious praise"
- Example: "a meretricious argument"
[syn: gilded, meretricious, specious]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Meretricious \Mer`e*tri"cious\, a. [L. meretricius, from
   meretrix, -icis, a prostitute, lit., one who earns money, i.
   e., by prostitution, fr. merere to earn, gain. See Merit.]
   1. Of or pertaining to prostitutes; having to do with
      harlots; lustful; as, meretricious traffic.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Resembling the arts of a harlot; alluring by false show;
      gaudily and deceitfully ornamental; tawdry; as,
      meretricious dress or ornaments.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Deceptive or based on deception; seeming plausible, but
      based on pretense or insincerity; deceptive; misleading;
      insincere; specious; as, meretricious arguments.
      [PJC] -- Mer`e*tri"cious*ly, adv. --
      Mer`e*tri"cious*ness, n.
      [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

meretricious
    adj 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" [syn:
       brassy, cheap, flash, flashy, garish, gaudy,
       gimcrack, loud, meretricious, tacky, tatty,
       tawdry, trashy]
    3: based on pretense; deceptively pleasing; "the gilded and
       perfumed but inwardly rotten nobility"; "meretricious
       praise"; "a meretricious argument" [syn: gilded,
       meretricious, specious]