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 production can’t hide the show’s meretricious heart, but like the song that Scherzinger endows with Puccini-esque splendor, Lloyd has discovered “new ways to dream” Webber’s musical.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2024
The economic crash of 1929 descended on America like an ice age, ending a meretricious prosperity.
From Salon • Nov. 4, 2023
On the other hand, you have Nabokov’s “Ada,” a massive, strenuously written novel, often beautiful but ultimately meretricious.
From New York Times • Mar. 3, 2022
Latin, especially in the provinces; and, as has been said, the literary output of the last age of Paganism was marked by sterility of thought and meretricious redundancy of expression.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 10 "Echinoderma" to "Edward" by Various
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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