Dowdy describes someone whose appearance is old-fashioned, drab, and unflattering, usually because of clothing that looks out of date. A dowdy outfit might involve baggy shapes, faded colors, mismatched patterns, and styles that went out of fashion decades ago.

The word carries a specific feeling: it suggests someone unattractive in a way that makes it seem like the person doesn't care about or understand how to present themselves well. A character in a book might be described as dowdy if she wears shapeless gray dresses and sensible shoes that make her seem older and duller than she actually is.

Dowdy is almost always used to describe women, which reflects old-fashioned ideas about how women “should” look. You might hear someone say that a room looks dowdy too, meaning it feels dated and depressing, with worn-out furniture and dreary colors.

The word is somewhat unkind, so using it about a real person would be rude. But it's useful for understanding descriptions in stories, where a character might start out dowdy and later change their appearance, or where dowdiness reveals something about how a character sees themselves.