meretricious
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Shakespeare in Love” kidnapped its subject to force him into a flimsy and meretricious romcom; “Hamnet” reduces the concept of tragedy to actors being extremely sad.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025
The economic crash of 1929 descended on America like an ice age, ending a meretricious prosperity.
From Salon • Nov. 4, 2023
Even in his last decades, when he might have basked in the eminence of his international reputation, he was still experimenting, still trying to separate the essential from the meretricious.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 3, 2022
How do we convince people that they should reject the meretricious puffery they find inspiring?
From Washington Post • May 3, 2022
Cheap and meretricious, the toy was saved from vulgarity by the colour which glowed like a pigeon-blood ruby.
From The Man with the Double Heart by Hine, Muriel
Vocabulary lists containing meretricious
The Great Gatsby
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Fake It 'Til You Make It: Synonyms for "False"
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"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry
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