garish
adjUK /ˈɡɛəɹɪʃ/ · US /ˈɡɛəɹɪʃ/
Etymology Unknown, possibly from obsolete Middle English gawren (“to stare”) which is of uncertain origin, probably from Old Norse gá (“to watch, heed”) or gaurr (“rough fellow”) (Proto-Indo-European *gʰow-rós, from *gʰew- (“to be angry”)). Compare with English gaw.
1
Overly ostentatious; so colorful as to be in bad taste.
- The dress fits her well, but the pattern is rather garish.
- "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects;[…]."1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
3 more examples
- On the other hand, to arrive after dusk, when the multitude of garish little public-houses are lit up, giving glimpses of crowded jostling bars and taprooms, is an introduction to a fine city well calculated to affect even the most nonchalant.1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 703:
- Leela: He gave me mechanical ears / Effective though just a bit garish.2003 August 10, Ken Keeler, “The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings”, in Futurama, season 5, episode 16 (television production), Fox Broadcasting Company:
- She also said that Thameslink trains were deliberately garish, so as to lure drivers stuck on the M1, which runs alongside the line around Radlett.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 57:
- Derived terms
- garishly, garishness, nongarish