- Today's Word
Meretricious
mer-uh-TRISH-us
Definition
(adjective) Attractive in a showy but deceptive or worthless way.
Example
The ad campaign was full of meretricious claims that didn’t match the product.
Fun Fact
Meretricious comes from the Latin word for prostitute (meretrix) and originally referred to superficial allure with no substance. Today, it’s used in critiques of marketing, fashion, or social media culture, where style often outweighs truth. It’s a biting word for anything that tries too hard to impress without backing it up.
(noun) A person who loves beauty—especially in art, nature, or everyday life.
As a true philocalist, he collected small moments of beauty wherever he went, from sunlit windows to wildflowers growing through cracks in the sidewalk.
From Greek philo- (“loving”) + kallos (“beauty”).