The Collaborative International Dictionary
Meretricious \Mer`e*tri"cious\, a. [L. meretricius, from meretrix, -icis, a prostitute, lit., one who earns money, i. e., by prostitution, fr. merere to earn, gain. See Merit.]
Of or pertaining to prostitutes; having to do with harlots; lustful; as, meretricious traffic.
Resembling the arts of a harlot; alluring by false show; gaudily and deceitfully ornamental; tawdry; as, meretricious dress or ornaments.
Deceptive or based on deception; seeming plausible, but based on pretense or insincerity; deceptive; misleading; insincere; specious; as, meretricious arguments. [PJC] -- Mer`e*tri"cious*ly, adv. -- Mer`e*tri"cious*ness, n.
Wiktionary
adv. In a meretricious manner.
WordNet
adv. in a meretricious manner; "the boat is meretriciously decorated" [syn: flashily]
Usage examples of "meretriciously".
Such art was also for the masses of the people who cannot pay for original art, save in its first uncertain developments, when the stagier it is, the blacker, the bolder, the more meretriciously pretty or fantastically horrible, the better it is relished by its public.