Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state of being dowdy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The characteristic of being
dowdy ;frumpiness ;plainness .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun having a drab or dowdy quality; lacking stylishness or elegance
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Nor is there the slightest need that this kind of dressing involve "dowdiness," or "slouchiness," a characteristic abhorrent to every true woman.
The Education of American Girls Anna Callender Brackett
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Miss Savage, he says, was short, fat, had hip disease, and that kind of dowdiness which I used to associate with ladies who had been at school with my mother.
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Susan Boyle lives with her cat, is unemployed, a church volunteer, has a high dowdiness quotient, no hairdo except gray and wild.
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Stay-at-home moms have a reputation for dowdiness that is completely undeserved.
Greg Olear: 8 Reasons Why Stay-at-Home Dads Are Better Than Stay-at-Home Moms Greg Olear 2011
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During a long interview in a Soho hotel whose plushness seems surreal after the institutional dowdiness of the court where his and Harry Redknapp's fates were decided, Mandaric tries to keep his resolution, not to criticise the City of London Police or Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, who conducted the investigations into him.
Milan Mandaric: 'I would be lying if I said it isn't hurting me' 2012
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Susan Boyle lives with her cat, is unemployed, a church volunteer, has a high dowdiness quotient, no hairdo except gray and wild.
Shambhala SunSpace » John Tarrant – Escape Arts in Delusionville 2009
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The mission: Spruce up a brand long plagued with a reputation for dowdiness among upwardly mobile European buyers.
Spiffing Up Opel's Image to Test GM Vanessa Fuhrmans 2011
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Half-veiled hats adorned their visage, while still carrying a bit of dowdiness with them, at least to the young boy.
The Strange Tantes 2010
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The retailer's changeover from cheap dowdiness to affordable fashion was under way.
Old Habits Die Hard Christopher F. Chabris 2010
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In the hit movie "The Devil Wears Prada," Andy Sachs, played by Anne Hathaway, has the innocence (and dowdiness) beaten out of her by the terror-inducing fashion editor played by Meryl Streep.
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