dowdy
- adjective
- /ˈdaʊdi/
- She chose a dowdy dress for the party, which made her feel out of place.
And the gays think the lesbians are kind of dowdy and boring.
- And the gays think the lesbians are kind of dowdy and boring.
- Like that would look so chic and stylish or if you don't like the high neck, even like a sweetheart neckline or plunging or something so it doesn't just look dull and dowdy.
Examples
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It's just a very fine line between elegant and dowdy.
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Abigail steps forward; she now wears a plain, dowdy suit, and her hair is in braided coils.
Fiction book (1991) -
I knew by the age of ten that a bank officer's dowdy wife could cost him a promotion.
Academic text (2007) -
How come I have to wear those dowdy, brown, ugly dresses?
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I admire his courage, if not his taste, which is way too dowdy for me.
Fiction book (2000) -
By the end of the party, Miss Louisa might look as dowdy as ever, and Mr. Alfred a little worse than usual.
Fiction book (1996) -
And of course, the image of suffragettes were these old dowdy ladies, you know, who'd made all this trouble.
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But lately, in his mid-fifties, Leonard has settled down and married the dowdy editor of a home-decorating magazine.
Fiction book (1998) -
She's dowdy!
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The mesdames had never gone in much for elaborate habits, and now they had settled into dowdy outfits with big plain wooden crosses around their necks.
Fiction book (2001)
Synonyms
Not pleasant to look at or to the senses
A thing that has no strong character and few interesting features
Clothes or a person that look old-fashioned and not attractive
Old-fashioned and not open to new ideas
Not attractive to look at
Not attractive or exciting and often plain
Not fashionable or elegant in appearance
Having a plain look that is not fashionable
Gentle and old-fashioned like a mother
Not fashionable and socially awkward in appearance, often in a funny, likeable way
Looking plain and out of fashion in a dull way
Not fashionable or stylish, often plain and old-fashioned
Wearing clothes that look messy or not right for the occasion
Plain and not made to look stylish or perfect
Looks plain and not attractive or exciting
Antonyms
How Unfashionable
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word dowdy likely began as the name for a woman who dressed plainly or untidily, so people used it for clothes or rooms that looked 'unfashionable and dull'.