Phonetic: /taw·​dry/

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition

cheap and gaudy in appearance or quality

tawdry clothing/jewels
tawdry furniture

“Well, I found myself seated in a horrid little private box … I looked out from behind the curtain and surveyed the house. It was a tawdry affair, all Cupids and cornucopias, like a third-rate wedding-cake.”
—Oscar Wilde

Any trip there carries with it more than its share of drabness, tawdry hotels and second-rate service, all of which tax the forbearance of the most patient traveler.
—John F. Burns

morally sordid, base, or distasteful

a tawdry scandal
a tawdry love affair
a tawdry attempt to smear his opponent

Setting aside the tawdry manner in which his marriage had (publicly) unraveled, the mayor’s combative style had begun to grate on many New Yorkers.
—Jonathan Mahler