garish

adjective

gar·​ish ˈger-ish How to pronounce garish (audio)
1
: clothed in vivid colors
a garish clown
2
a
: excessively or disturbingly vivid
garish colors
garish imagery
b
: offensively or distressingly bright : glaring
3
: tastelessly showy : flashy
garish neon signs
garishly adverb
garishness noun
Choose the Right Synonym for garish

gaudy, tawdry, garish, flashy, meretricious mean vulgarly or cheaply showy.

gaudy implies a tasteless use of overly bright, often clashing colors or excessive ornamentation.

circus performers in gaudy costumes

tawdry applies to what is at once gaudy and cheap and sleazy.

tawdry saloons

garish describes what is distressingly or offensively bright.

garish neon signs

flashy implies an effect of brilliance quickly and easily seen to be shallow or vulgar.

a flashy nightclub act

meretricious stresses falsity and may describe a tawdry show that beckons with a false allure or promise.

a meretricious wasteland of casinos and bars

Examples of garish in a Sentence

the wedding guest's thick makeup was garish and unnecessary
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Lopez’s Spider Woman gets a bad pixie wig and even more garish goth costuming appropriate for a bewitching, bitchy succubus. Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 26 Jan. 2025 The show’s graphic designer Tansy Michaud designed the cover, which, with its garish red-and-yellow cover and text about self-actualization, was meant to be a little graphically obnoxious. Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2025 The handset's design was more conservative, offered less thermal management hardware than previous handsets, and the garish bright colors and cyber-glow had been moved out of the phone and into a clip-on gaming peripheral. Ewan Spence, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024 Instead it’s been turned into a pantomime with outlandishly garish costumes. Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 20 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for garish 

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1545, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of garish was in 1545

Dictionary Entries Near garish

Cite this Entry

“Garish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garish. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

Kids Definition

garish

adjective
gar·​ish ˈga(ə)r-ish How to pronounce garish (audio)
ˈge(ə)r-
: too bright or showy : gaudy
garishly adverb
garishness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on garish

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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