What does meretricious mean?
Meretricious describes something that appears attractive, brilliant, or pleasing but achieves that effect through deception, ostentation, or excessive display. Its modern use is especially common in criticism of literature, rhetoric, art, fashion, and visual presentation: a meretricious sentence may sound impressive while saying little, while a meretricious performance may rely on spectacle rather than skill. The word carries a strongly disapproving tone and is more pointed than merely decorative or flashy, because it implies that the appeal is deceptive or hollow. Meretricious was once capable of a more neutral sense meaning attractive or alluring, but that usage is now rare or obsolete. Today, recognizing the word is useful because it identifies beauty or brilliance that may be an effective surface effect rather than genuine achievement or substance.
adjectiveApparently attractive or pleasing in a false or deceptive way, especially through showiness or ostentation.
- Apparently attractive or pleasing but deceptive, especially of writing, style, ornament, or display.
- Attractive or alluring, without the modern implication of falseness; now rare or obsolete.
"The critic dismissed the novel's meretricious prose as empty showmanship."
"The critic dismissed the novel's meretricious prose as empty showmanship."
"The advertisement offered meretricious glamour without revealing what the product actually did."
A word born from the vocabulary of prostitution later became a sharp literary complaint about beauty that is more promise than substance.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does meretricious come from?
Meretricious comes from Latin meretricius, meaning “pertaining to a prostitute,” which was derived from meretrix, meaning “prostitute.” English usage appeared in the early 17th century, initially in the broader sense of alluring or attractive. Its modern critical meaning developed as it came to describe writing and display that attract attention through false brilliance or ostentation. The same Latin root also underlies English meretric and the learned word meretrix.
Related word forms
How meretricious is actually used
This is a formal, literary, and usually pejorative term. Its older, genuinely complimentary sense survives only rarely. In modern use it is especially common in judgments of writing, style, ornament, and display.
Easily confused with meretricious
Meretricious means falsely attractive or ostentatiously showy, whereas meretric is a literary or archaic term for a prostitute.