• (British) IPA: /ˈɡɔː.di/
• (America) IPA: /ˈɡɔ.di/
  • (cot-caught) IPA: /ˈɡɑ.di/

gaudy (comparative gaudier, superlative gaudiest)

1. very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner

   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, / But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy.

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

     The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings.

   • 2005, Thomas Hauser & Marilyn Cole Lownes, "How Bling-bling Took Over the Ring", The Observer, 9 January 2005

     Gaudy jewellery might offend some people's sense of style. But former heavyweight champion and grilling-machine entrepreneur George Foreman is philosophical about today's craze for bling-bling.

2. (obsolete) fun; merry; festive

   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene xiii]:

     Let's have one other gaudy night.

   • And then, there he was, slim and handsome, and dressed the gaudiest and prettiest you ever saw...

• (excessively showy) tawdry, flashy, garish, kitschy
• Thesaurus:gaudy

• French: voyant, criard, surfait, kitsch, vulgaire
• German: knallig, grell, protzig, kitschig, aufsehenerregend
• Italian: chiassoso, vistoso, sgargiante, appariscente, pacchiano
• Portuguese: espalhafatoso, vistoso
• Russian: цвета́стый
• Spanish: llamativo, vistoso, sobrecargado, vulgar, feúcho, chillón, hortera

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. One of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited.

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally held during the summer vacations.