Dowdy
adj, name, noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A plain or shabby person.
"Besides these, however, and the determined dowdies, women who either do not understand dress, or who will not be troubled with it, there are certainly many who, while always anxious to appear to the best advantage, are not wealthy enough to do so […]"
- 2 deep-dish apple dessert covered with a rich crust wordnet
- 1 To press the crust into the filling during baking, to allow the juices to caramelize on top. transitive
"Topping the apples with squares of dough allowed steam to escape during baking, preventing the apples from overcooking. Dowdying the crust partway through created the dessert's sweet finish."
- 1 Plain and unfashionable in style or dress.
- 2 Lacking stylishness or neatness; shabby.
"[...she was] a perfect saint amongst women, but so dreadfully dowdy that she reminded one of a badly bound hymn-book."
- 1 primly out of date wordnet
- 2 lacking in smartness or taste wordnet
- 1 A surname from Irish.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Her clothes were clean but dowdy."
Etymology
First appears c. 1581. Origin uncertain, probably literally "little poorly dressed woman," formed from doue, "poorly dressed woman". Possibly also related to the Scots dow, meaning to "fade".
Variant of Dowd.
Related phrases
More for "dowdy"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.