Meretricious

//ˌmɛɹɪˈtɹɪʃəs// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Tastelessly gaudy; superficially attractive but having in reality no value or substance; falsely alluring.

    "I discovered even, by his conversation, when intoxicated that his favourites were wantons of the lowest class, who could by their vulgar, indecent mirth, which he called nature, rouse his sluggish spirits. Meretricious ornaments and manners were necessary to attract his attention."

  2. 2
    Involving unlawful sexual connection or lack of consent by at least one party (said of a romantic relationship).
  3. 3
    Of, or relating to prostitutes or prostitution. obsolete
Adjective
  1. 1
    based on pretense; deceptively pleasing wordnet
  2. 2
    tastelessly showy wordnet
  3. 3
    like or relating to a prostitute wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
speciousaffectedapparentartificialbedizenedbeggarly

Example

More examples

"Pervasive and pernicious deviations from both fact and logical validity lurked behind a meretricious plausibility."

Etymology

From Latin meretrīcius, from meretrīx (“harlot, prostitute”), from mereō (“earn, deserve, merit”) (English merit) + -trīx (“(female agent)”) (English -trix).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.