- showy
- showy, pretentious, ostentatious can mean making or presenting an outward display that is by implication greater than what is necessary or justifiable.Showy, the ordinary term, carries less definite implications than the other words. It implies an imposing, striking, or impressive appearance, but it often suggests cheapness, inferiority, or poor taste{
showy brass ware— Shaw
}{showy fur- niture
}{showy decorations
}or undue conspicuousness or gaudiness{a showy wallpaper design
}{showy peonies
}or overattention to superficial qualities{the showy talents, in which the present age prides itself— Newman
}Pretentious (see also AMBITIOUS 2) suggests even less warrant for display, for it usually implies an appearance that is not justified by the thing's actual value or actual cost or by the person's actual worth, rank, performance, or capability; the term therefore implies a criticism of whatever is so described{I'd rather you didn't call me "sir" ... it might give rise to the idea that I had asked you to .... It might appear rather pretentious— Mackenzie
}{his sense of character is nil, and he is as pretentious as a rich whore, as sentimental as a lollipop— Mailer
}{a brilliant sham, which, like a badly built and pretentious house, looks poor and shabby after a few years— Cather
}Ostentatious stresses vainglorious display or parade but it does not necessarily imply either showiness or pretentiousness{ostentatious public charities— Wilde
}{the ostentatious simplicity of their dress— Macaulay
}{thought their cortege ostentatious . . . slaves marching ahead with drums, porters bearing food and . . . gifts, and an armed escort— Hervey
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
