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   tawdry

   /ˈtɔːdri/

   adjective

   • 1. showy but cheap and of poor quality: "tawdry jewellery"
   • ▪ sordid or unpleasant: "the tawdry business of politics"

   noun

   • 1. cheap and gaudy finery. archaic

   Word Origin early 17th century: short for tawdry lace, a fine silk lace or ribbon worn as a necklace in the 16th–17th centuries, contraction of St Audrey's lace: Audrey was a later form of Etheldrida (died 679), patron saint of Ely where tawdry laces, along with cheap imitations and other cheap finery, were traditionally sold at a fair.

   Derivatives

   • 1. tawdrily adverb
   • 2. tawdriness noun

   Scrabble Points: 13

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