How to pronounce dowdy
American English pronunciation
DOW-dee
- IPA
- /ˈdaʊdi/
- Syllables
- DOW · dee (2 syllables, stress on the 1st)
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What dowdy means
Plain and old-fashioned in the way you dress
In a sentence: Her aunt's dowdy brown coat looked like it came from an old movie.
Where it comes from: It first shows up around 1581. Its origin is uncertain, but it probably came from an old word for a poorly dressed woman, and it is possibly linked to a Scots word meaning "to fade."
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