'Meretricious' definitions:

Definition of 'meretricious'

From: WordNet
adjective
Like or relating to a prostitute; "meretricious relationships"
adjective
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]
adjective
Based on pretense; deceptively pleasing; "the gilded and perfumed but inwardly rotten nobility"; "meretricious praise"; "a meretricious argument" [syn: gilded, meretricious, specious]

Definition of 'Meretricious'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]

Words containing 'Meretricious'