Antonyms for tawdriness

Grammar : Noun

Spell : taw-dree

Phonetic Transcription : ˈtɔ dri

plainness

Definition of tawdriness

Origin : "cheap, showy, gaudy," 1670s, adjective use of noun tawdry "silk necktie for women" (1610s), shortened from tawdry lace (1540s), an alteration of St. Audrey's lace, a necktie or ribbon sold at the annual fair at Ely on Oct. 17 commemorating St. Audrey (queen of Northumbria, died 679). Her association with cheap lace necklaces is that she supposedly died of a throat tumor, which she considered God's punishment for her youthful fondness for showy necklaces [Bede].

As in frippery : noun waste, nonsense

Example sentences :

There is a tawdriness about them all, something artificial and unreal.
Extract from : « The Traitors » by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

In England she had borrowed the untidiness and tawdriness that degrade the English poor.
Extract from : « Our House » by Elizabeth Robins Pennell

In the midst of all the tawdriness she was a still and sacred figure—a Madonna with a child.
Extract from : « The Tin Soldier » by Temple Bailey

In spite of the gilded sea-horses and chariot, there is no tawdriness here; all is bold, splendid, and imposing.
Extract from : « The Mediterranean » by T. G. (Thomas Gray) Bonney, E. A. R. Ball, H. D. Traill, Grant Allen, and Arthur Griffiths

Hence the tawdriness which is justly alleged against much Italian literature.
Extract from : « The Memoires of Casanova, Complete » by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

The picturesque old fought a brave battle with the tinsel and tawdriness of the new.
Extract from : « The Traitors » by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

To us it seems to bear a nearer affinity to the tawdriness of poverty, or the spasms and convulsions of weakness.
Extract from : « The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 2 (of 4) » by Thomas Babington Macaulay

I won in that moment an impression of the tawdriness of mere beauty which I have never gotten over.
Extract from : « A Positive Romance » by Edward Bellamy

The first impression which one receives upon entering the inner precincts of the kraton is of tawdriness and dilapidation.
Extract from : « Where the Strange Trails Go Down » by E. Alexander Powell

Hygiene has not passed within the Mellah's walls, but a certain amount of Western tawdriness has.
Extract from : « Morocco » by S.L. Bensusan

Synonyms for tawdriness

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019