meretricious

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

• IPA^(key): /ˌmɛɹɪˈtɹɪʃəs/, /ˌmɛɹəˈtɹɪʃəs/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪʃəs

meretricious (comparative more meretricious, superlative most meretricious)

1. Tastelessly gaudy; superficially attractive but having in reality no value or substance; falsely alluring.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.

   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p. 164:

     When I lifted my eyes from the page, there was none of the meretricious argument London always offers that the sole real purpose in life is to hustle for a buck.

2. (law) Involving unlawful sexual connection or lack of consent by at least one party (said of a romantic relationship)
3. (obsolete) Of, or relating to prostitutes or prostitution.

• (tastelessly showy): brassy, cheap, flashy, garish, gaudy, gimcrack, tacky, tatty, tawdry, trashy

• merit (see also: merit: related terms)