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  1. dowdy love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Lacking stylishness or neatness; shabby: a dowdy gray outfit.
  2. adj. Old-fashioned; antiquated.
  3. n. A dowdy person; a frump.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A slatternly, slovenly, ill-dressed woman; a slattern, especially one who affects finery.
  2. Slovenly; ill-dressed; slatternly: applied to women.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Plain and unfashionable in style or dress.
  2. adj. Lacking stylishness or neatness; shabby.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Showing a vulgar taste in dress; awkward and slovenly in dress; vulgar-looking.
  2. n. An awkward, vulgarly dressed, inelegant woman.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. deep-dish apple dessert covered with a rich crust
  2. adj. primly out of date
  3. adj. lacking in smartness or taste
  4. n. British marshal of the RAF who commanded the British air defense forces that defeated the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain (1882-1970)

Etymologies

  1. Late 16th century. Origin uncertain: probably literally “little poorly dressed woman,” formed from doue “poorly dressed woman.” (Wiktionary)
  2. From Middle English doude, immoral, unattractive, or shabbily dressed woman. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Her Aunt Mimi isn't beautiful, at least on the outside: she buries her features beneath thick powder, marches around in dowdy clothes and looks old beyond her years.”

    The Wall Street Journal: A Grownup Look at Lennon as a 'Boy'

  • “They had been out at General Headquarters, living in dowdy little hotels in Arras ever since October, most of them.”

    The Blitzkrieg In Flanders

  • “The galaxy of handsome women that formed the court of the Emperor had perhaps sent beauty somewhat out of fashion; for the high-born ladies who took their place were what we should call dowdy, and had nothing distinguished in their appearance.”

    Reminiscences of Captain Gronow

  • “While girlie, they weren't prim or dowdy, which is surely important to Stuart's typically young customer - someone like Emma Roberts, who sat in the front row.”

    ABC News: Top Stories

  • “Have a look at this for a brilliant exposé of how the real flesh, blood, mousy hair and freckles of a 'dowdy' girl next door can be transformed into an unattainable goddess.”

    The Guardian: Supermodel Erin O'Connor slams fashion world for lying to women

  • “Also, women are so worried about appearing "dowdy," but these paintings do not show magnificent clothing, just feminine clothing -- skirts and dresses.”

    Archive 2009-07-01

  • “What a nice way to show that dressing modestly doesn't have to mean "dowdy" or "drab"!”

    The Value of Clothing in Creating a Mood

  • “I admit to initially noticing her because she was kind of dowdy I was in a Starbucks of upscale clientele.”

    The Adventure of TechieGirl

  • “One is 'like an édition de luxe of a wicked French novel, meant specially for the English market', another as 'dowdy' as a 'badly bound hymn-book'.”

    The Wall Street Journal: 'Built of Books'

  • “I just looked at the 4-Yard-Line collection again at the wiki, and the patterns aren't specifically "dowdy".”

    Linktastic Thursday! - A Dress A Day

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synonyms (1)

Words with the same meaning

  1. vulgar-looking

equivalents (3)

Other words for ‘dowdy’

  1. unstylish
  1. unfashionable
  1. styleless

hypernyms (5)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. pastry
  1. full general
  1. Marshall
  1. marshal
  1. general

same context (22)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. unfashionable
  2. drab
  3. middle-aged
  4. mannish
  1. threadbare
  2. tailor-made
  3. bedraggled
  4. shabby
  1. alpaca
  2. dumpy
  3. homespun
  4. ladies'
  1. untidy
  2. shapeless
  3. loose-fitting
  4. prim
  1. rumple
  2. skimpy
  3. undistinguished
  4. overweight
  1. frumpy
  2. well-cut

rhymes (6)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Goudy
  1. Saudi
  1. cloudy
  1. gowdy
  1. howdy
  1. rowdy

reverse dictionary (16)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. dawdy
  2. dowde
  3. dowdyish
  1. dowdyism
  2. dowdily
  3. dowdiness
  1. frumpish
  2. dowdy
  3. drabness
  1. frumpily
  2. frumpishly
  3. homeliness
  1. tacky
  2. frump
  3. guy
  1. slovenly

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‘dowdy’ has been looked up 2916 times, loved by 3 people, added to 32 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 13.