Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Overly bright or ornamented, especially in a vulgar or tasteless way; gaudy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Glaring; staring; showy; dazzling; hence, glaringly or vulgarly gaudy.
  • Extravagantly gay; flighty.
  • Synonyms Flaunting, flashy, tawdry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Showy; dazzling; ostentatious; attracting or exciting attention.
  • adjective Gay to extravagance; flighty.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Overly ostentatious; so colourful as to be in bad taste.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective tastelessly showy

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps from Old Norse gaurr ("rough fellow").

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Examples

  • And I forgot to mention the billboards – giant things stretching from the ground up to about 15 – 20 feet up, typically in garish yellow or red, no pictures, just Chinese characters, and frequently tattered, faded, and torn.

    A Much Too Long Short Vacation « Hyperpat’s HyperDay 2008

  • Now, a lot of the time, this is littered with various large kids 'toys, things to ride on in garish colors and whatnot.

    Stupid chaosreality 2007

  • Children playing, men in garish Hawaiian shirts at the grill, women in fun and flirty sundresses, sprinklers on lawns, and older ladies fanning themselves make a tapestry of summer.

    To Every Season, Turn, Turn, Turn kittenpie 2006

  • Children playing, men in garish Hawaiian shirts at the grill, women in fun and flirty sundresses, sprinklers on lawns, and older ladies fanning themselves make a tapestry of summer.

    Archive 2006-08-01 kittenpie 2006

  • While the Trumps and Iacoccas of the world prefer to present themselves in garish books with jackets featuring large color photos of their own faces, Buffett, the legendary midwestern cheapskate with a knack for discovering hidden value in cookware clubs (The Pampered Chef) and encyclopedia publishers (World Book), has reclaimed a form of junk mail for his collected works.

    American Everyman 2004

  • While the Trumps and Iacoccas of the world prefer to present themselves in garish books with jackets featuring large color photos of their own faces, Buffett, the legendary midwestern cheapskate with a knack for discovering hidden value in cookware clubs (The Pampered Chef) and encyclopedia publishers (World Book), has reclaimed a form of junk mail for his collected works.

    American Everyman 2004

  • He owns and possesses in garish, exorbitant fashion.

    Coming Heavy | PopPolitics.com 2001

  • The Church of St. Eloi was very ancient, and adorned with strange old statues of clumsily carved stone painted in garish colors.

    A Childhood in Brittany Eighty Years Ago 1919

  • Meanwhile, the eyes of Jonathan S. Paul, of T Magazine’s The Moment blog, have been lingering both on technology that can be camouflaged and cables to connect them in garish colors.

    C.E.S. Picks: Wireless Video Networks and G.P.S. for Dogs - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • Meanwhile, the eyes of Jonathan S. Paul, of T Magazine’s The Moment blog, have been lingering both on technology that can be camouflaged and cables to connect them in garish colors.

    C.E.S. Picks: Wireless Video Networks and G.P.S. for Dogs - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

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