different between gaudy vs overwrought

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????.di/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???.di/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /???.di/
• Rhymes: -??di

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain; perhaps from gaud (“ornament, trinket”) +? -y, perhaps ultimately from Old French gaudir (“to rejoice”).

Alternatively, from Middle English gaudi, gawdy (“yellowish”), from Old French gaude, galde (“weld (the plant)”), from Frankish *walda, from Proto-Germanic *walþ?, *walþij?, akin to Old English *weald, *wielde (>Middle English welde, wolde and Anglo-Latin walda (“alum”)), Middle Low German wolde, Middle Dutch woude. More at English weld.

A common claim that the word derives from Antoni Gaudí, designer of Barcelona's Sagrada Família Basilica, is incorrect: the word was in use centuries before Gaudí was born.

Adjective

gaudy (comparative gaudier, superlative gaudiest)

1. very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

     The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings.

   • 2005, Thomas Hauser & Marilyn Cole Lownes, "How Bling-bling Took Over the Ring", The Observer, 9 January 2005

     Gaudy jewellery might offend some people's sense of style. But former heavyweight champion and grilling-machine entrepreneur George Foreman is philosophical about today's craze for bling-bling.

2. (obsolete) fun; merry; festive

   • And for my strange petition I will make
     Amends hereafter by some gaudy day

   • And then, there he was, slim and handsome, and dressed the gaudiest and prettiest you ever saw...

Synonyms

• (excessively showy): tawdry, flashy, garish, kitschy
• Thesaurus:gaudy

Derived terms

• gaudily
• gaudy night

Translations

Noun

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. One of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Latin gaudium (“joy”). Doublet of joy.

Noun

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally held during the summer vacations.

English

Etymology

Past participle of overwork; see wrought.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??.v?????t/

Adjective

overwrought (comparative more overwrought, superlative most overwrought)

1. Excessively nervous, excited, tense, angry, anxious, or upset; overemotional; very uneasy.
2. Elaborate; overdone.

Derived terms

• overwroughtness

Synonyms

• (emotional): distraught, overwhelmed, distressed, agitated
• (elaborate): ornate, overdecorated

Antonyms

• (emotional): calm, collected, composed, laid-back, placid, serene, tranquil, untroubled
• (elaborate): austere, bare, conservative, denuded, modest, naked, plain, simple, stark, stripped, uncovered, restrained, subdued, toned-down, unadorned

Translations