garish

Some common synonyms of garish are flashy, gaudy, meretricious, and tawdry. While all these words mean "vulgarly or cheaply showy," garish describes what is distressingly or offensively bright.

While the synonyms flashy and garish are close in meaning, flashy implies an effect of brilliance quickly and easily seen to be shallow or vulgar.

The meanings of gaudy and garish largely overlap; however, gaudy implies a tasteless use of overly bright, often clashing colors or excessive ornamentation.

Although the words meretricious and garish have much in common, meretricious stresses falsity and may describe a tawdry show that beckons with a false allure or promise.

While in some cases nearly identical to garish, tawdry applies to what is at once gaudy and cheap and sleazy.