Words / C2

mer-i-TRISH-uh-s/ˌmerɪˈtrɪʃəs/

Meretricious means showy and worthless, attractive on the surface (formal): meretricious glitter, meretricious rhetoric. Cheap and flashy are everyday; meretricious is the bookish charge. Merit is worth — a cruel lookalike. Historically it related to prostitution; modern exam use is “fake glitter”. Do not call a plain, solid table meretricious.

Meaning

Apparently attractive but having no real value (formal).

Examples

• “Meretricious dashboards glittered; the join behind them was still a spreadsheet.”
• “Meretricious dashboards sparkled; the join behind them was still one spreadsheet.”
• “Merit is worth; meretricious is specious shine. Flashy is everyday. A dull, true graph is the opposite aesthetic.”

Good to know

Showy and worthless (formal). Everyday: flashy / cheap. Mix-up: merit (worth). Modern sense: fake glitter, not a history essay unless asked.

Near in meaning

flashy

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