meretriciousadj.n.

Brit.

/ˌmɛrᵻˈtrɪʃəs/, U.S.

/mɛrəˈtrɪʃəs/

Forms: 1600s– meretricious, 1800s– meritricious (irregular).

Origin: A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element. Etymons: Latin meretrīcius , -ous suffix.

Etymology: < classical Latin meretrīcius ( < meretrīc- , meretrīx meretrix n. + -ius , suffix forming adjectives) + -ous suffix. Compare Italian †meretricioso (14th cent.). Compare earlier meretric adj., and later meretricial adj.

A. adj.

†1. Of, relating to, or befitting a prostitute; having the character of a prostitute. Obsolete (archaic in later use).

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [adjective] > relating to or of nature of prostitute > characteristic of or befitting

meretric1545

brothelly1608

strumpetly1615

meretricious1626

meretricial1642

meretriciana1704

1626 F. Bacon New Atlantis 27 in Sylua Syluarum The Delight in Meretricious Embracements, (wher sinne is turned into Art) maketh Marriage a dull thing.

1664 H. More Expos. 7 Epist. (1669) 101 Jezebel,..for all her paintings and fine meretricious pranking her self up,..was to be thrown out at the window.

1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 436 It is a meretricious, and not a matrimonial, union.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas III. vii. vii. 103 A young stagefinch, who had evidently suffered himself to be caught in the birdlime of her professional or meretricious talents.

1814 P. B. Shelley in Crit. Rev. Dec. 572 The lying and meretricious prude.

2. Alluring by false show; showily or superficially attractive but having in reality no value or integrity.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [adjective] > merely ostentatious

meretricious1633

pageant1634

society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] > qualities of works generally

wateryc1230

polite?a1500

meagre1539

over-laboured1579

bald1589

spiritless1592

light1597

meretricious1633

standing1661

effectual1662

airy1664

severe1665

correct1676

enervatea1704

free1728

classic1743

academic1752

academical1752

chaste1753

nerveless1763

epic1769

crude1786

effective1790

creative1791

soulless1794

mannered1796

manneristical1830

manneristic1837

subjective1840

inartisticala1849

abstract1857

inartistic1859

literary1900

period1905

atmospheric1908

dateless1908

atmosphered1920

non-naturalistic1925

self-indulgent1926

free-styled1933

soft-centred1935

freestyle1938

pseudish1938

decadent1942

post-human1944

kitschy1946

faux-naïf1958

spare1965

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [adjective]

fairOE

seeming1340

feignedc1374

colourablea1400

whitea1413

coloured?c1425

satiablec1487

provable1588

specious1611

well-seeminga1616

superficial1616

meretricious1633

glosseda1640

probable1639

spurious1646

fucatious1654

ostensible1762

well-looking1811

semblant1840

1633 P. Fletcher Purple Island viii. ix. 109 Strip thou their meretricious seemlinesse.

1662 S. Patrick Brief Acct. Latitude-men in Phenix (1708) II. 503 The meretricious Gaudiness of the Church of Rome, and the squallid Sluttery of Fanatick Conventicles.

1709–10 J. Addison Tatler No. 120. ⁋5 The Front of it was raised on Corinthian Pillars, with all the meretricious Ornaments that accompany that Order.

1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 59 A lust of meretricious glory.

1843 W. H. Prescott Hist. Conquest Mexico I. i. vi. 157 The meretricious ornaments..with which the minstrelsy of the East is usually tainted.

1846 T. Wright Ess. Middle Ages I. v. 185 The style he aims at is gaudy and meretricious.

1879 L. G. Seguin Black Forest vi. 85 The meretricious excitement of the gambling-room.

1931 V. Woolf Waves 34 All here is false; all is meretricious.

1988 A. Lurie Truth about Lorin Jones xi. 194 Like a stage set after the lights have been turned off, Key West had lost its meretricious charm.

B. n.

With the. That which is meretricious about a person, creative work, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [noun] > specious quality

colourableness1571

plausibleness1598

speciosity1608

seemingness1640

plausibility1649

speciousness1665

meretriciousness1727

meretricious1837

1837 Southern Literary Messenger 3 707 The gaudy, the meretricious, the violent, the exaggerated, it preferred to those severer charms and milder beauties which are revealed only to the pure in spirit.

1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. ii. i. 125 No critic ever more readily detected the meretricious and the false.

1975 S. R. Delany Dhalgren iii. 126 Where candle-light had made her seem a big-boned whore, smoke-light and a brown suit took all the meretricious from her rough, red hair and made her an elementary-school assistant principal.

1992 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 26 Apr. 1/1 Lately..words that end in ‘oid’ have become synonyms for the meretricious: sleazoid, Marxoid, tabloid.

Derivatives

mereˈtriciously adv.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [adverb] > with mere outward show

meretriciously1755

society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adverb] > qualities generally

strongly1642

artistly1664

correctlya1704

meretriciously1755

boldly1765

chastely1815

literally1816

airily1823

stylistically1889

decadently1892

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [adverb]

colourablya1400

colourly?1550

speciously1647

plausibly1648

meretriciously1755

fairly1821

1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Meretriciously.

a1797 E. Burke Tracts Popery Laws in Wks. (1842) II. 439/2 And meretriciously to hunt abroad after foreign affections.

1885 G. Meredith Diana of Crossways I. iv. 79 Meretriciously spangled and daubed.

1994 Film Comment Jan.–Feb. 64/2 This is a grownup movie that..exposes the similarly themed, contemporaneous film of Alan Parker, Shoot the Moon, as meretriciously showy.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	meretricious
释义	meretriciousadj.n. Brit. /ˌmɛrᵻˈtrɪʃəs/, U.S. /mɛrəˈtrɪʃəs/ Forms: 1600s– meretricious, 1800s– meritricious (irregular). Origin: A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element. Etymons: Latin meretrīcius , -ous suffix. Etymology: < classical Latin meretrīcius ( < meretrīc- , meretrīx meretrix n. + -ius , suffix forming adjectives) + -ous suffix. Compare Italian †meretricioso (14th cent.). Compare earlier meretric adj., and later meretricial adj. A. adj. †1. Of, relating to, or befitting a prostitute; having the character of a prostitute. Obsolete (archaic in later use). ΘΚΠ society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [adjective] > relating to or of nature of prostitute > characteristic of or befitting meretric1545 brothelly1608 strumpetly1615 meretricious1626 meretricial1642 meretriciana1704 1626 F. Bacon New Atlantis 27 in Sylua Syluarum The Delight in Meretricious Embracements, (wher sinne is turned into Art) maketh Marriage a dull thing. 1664 H. More Expos. 7 Epist. (1669) 101 Jezebel,..for all her paintings and fine meretricious pranking her self up,..was to be thrown out at the window. 1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 436 It is a meretricious, and not a matrimonial, union. 1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas III. vii. vii. 103 A young stagefinch, who had evidently suffered himself to be caught in the birdlime of her professional or meretricious talents. 1814 P. B. Shelley in Crit. Rev. Dec. 572 The lying and meretricious prude. 2. Alluring by false show; showily or superficially attractive but having in reality no value or integrity. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [adjective] > merely ostentatious meretricious1633 pageant1634 society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] > qualities of works generally wateryc1230 polite?a1500 meagre1539 over-laboured1579 bald1589 spiritless1592 light1597 meretricious1633 standing1661 effectual1662 airy1664 severe1665 correct1676 enervatea1704 free1728 classic1743 academic1752 academical1752 chaste1753 nerveless1763 epic1769 crude1786 effective1790 creative1791 soulless1794 mannered1796 manneristical1830 manneristic1837 subjective1840 inartisticala1849 abstract1857 inartistic1859 literary1900 period1905 atmospheric1908 dateless1908 atmosphered1920 non-naturalistic1925 self-indulgent1926 free-styled1933 soft-centred1935 freestyle1938 pseudish1938 decadent1942 post-human1944 kitschy1946 faux-naïf1958 spare1965 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [adjective] fairOE seeming1340 feignedc1374 colourablea1400 whitea1413 coloured?c1425 satiablec1487 provable1588 specious1611 well-seeminga1616 superficial1616 meretricious1633 glosseda1640 probable1639 spurious1646 fucatious1654 ostensible1762 well-looking1811 semblant1840 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Island viii. ix. 109 Strip thou their meretricious seemlinesse. 1662 S. Patrick Brief Acct. Latitude-men in Phenix (1708) II. 503 The meretricious Gaudiness of the Church of Rome, and the squallid Sluttery of Fanatick Conventicles. 1709–10 J. Addison Tatler No. 120. ⁋5 The Front of it was raised on Corinthian Pillars, with all the meretricious Ornaments that accompany that Order. 1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 59 A lust of meretricious glory. View more context for this quotation 1843 W. H. Prescott Hist. Conquest Mexico I. i. vi. 157 The meretricious ornaments..with which the minstrelsy of the East is usually tainted. 1846 T. Wright Ess. Middle Ages I. v. 185 The style he aims at is gaudy and meretricious. 1879 L. G. Seguin Black Forest vi. 85 The meretricious excitement of the gambling-room. 1931 V. Woolf Waves 34 All here is false; all is meretricious. 1988 A. Lurie Truth about Lorin Jones xi. 194 Like a stage set after the lights have been turned off, Key West had lost its meretricious charm. B. n. With the. That which is meretricious about a person, creative work, etc. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [noun] > specious quality colourableness1571 plausibleness1598 speciosity1608 seemingness1640 plausibility1649 speciousness1665 meretriciousness1727 meretricious1837 1837 Southern Literary Messenger 3 707 The gaudy, the meretricious, the violent, the exaggerated, it preferred to those severer charms and milder beauties which are revealed only to the pure in spirit. 1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. ii. i. 125 No critic ever more readily detected the meretricious and the false. 1975 S. R. Delany Dhalgren iii. 126 Where candle-light had made her seem a big-boned whore, smoke-light and a brown suit took all the meretricious from her rough, red hair and made her an elementary-school assistant principal. 1992 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 26 Apr. 1/1 Lately..words that end in ‘oid’ have become synonyms for the meretricious: sleazoid, Marxoid, tabloid. Derivatives mereˈtriciously adv. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [adverb] > with mere outward show meretriciously1755 society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adverb] > qualities generally strongly1642 artistly1664 correctlya1704 meretriciously1755 boldly1765 chastely1815 literally1816 airily1823 stylistically1889 decadently1892 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [adverb] colourablya1400 colourly?1550 speciously1647 plausibly1648 meretriciously1755 fairly1821 1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Meretriciously. a1797 E. Burke Tracts Popery Laws in Wks. (1842) II. 439/2 And meretriciously to hunt abroad after foreign affections. 1885 G. Meredith Diana of Crossways I. iv. 79 Meretriciously spangled and daubed. 1994 Film Comment Jan.–Feb. 64/2 This is a grownup movie that..exposes the similarly themed, contemporaneous film of Alan Parker, Shoot the Moon, as meretriciously showy. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.n.1626
随便看	brittle heart brittle silver ore brittle-brattle brittle-minded brittlebrattle brittlebush brittlebushes brittled brittlely brittleminded brittleness brittlenesses brittler brittles brittlest brittlestar brittlestares brittlestars brittlety brittlewort brittling brittlish brittly brittonic britts