Her dowdy overcoat alarmed her teenage children.    From LearnThat.org. 

A dowdy grey outfit.    From Wordnet, Princeton University. 

They had been out at General Headquarters, living in dowdy little hotels in Arras ever since October, most of them.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Blitzkrieg In Flanders] Reference

I told her how frequently the word "dowdy" came up when I talked to nuns.    From Wordnik.com.  [Women of God] Reference

What a nice way to show that dressing modestly doesn't have to mean "dowdy" or "drab"!.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Value of Clothing in Creating a Mood] Reference

I admit to initially noticing her because she was kind of dowdy I was in a Starbucks of upscale clientele.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Adventure of TechieGirl] Reference

I just looked at the 4-Yard-Line collection again at the wiki, and the patterns aren't specifically "dowdy".    From Wordnik.com.  [Linktastic Thursday! - A Dress A Day] Reference

A very common-looking red face it was, and a very "dowdy" figure.    From Wordnik.com.  [Personal Recollections of Birmingham and Birmingham Men] Reference

Kagan as "dowdy" and even commented on the position of Kagan's legs when she is seated.    From Wordnik.com.  [DailyHowler.com] Reference

'Not that old dress, dear; it's so plain an' dowdy.    From Wordnik.com.  [Sarah's School Friend] Reference

Pretty soon we were longing for our dowdy old minivan.    From Wordnik.com.  [Road Test: Pacifica] Reference

"Of course she'll be a perfect dowdy," Belle observed.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Girl from Sunset Ranch Or, Alone in a Great City] Reference

They say it as Isadora Duncan might have said "dowdy.".    From Wordnik.com.  [The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind] Reference

Long sleeves and high necks were demure without being dowdy.    From Wordnik.com.  [Jill Stuart Takes it Seriously] Reference

He can only gain these manuscripts by marrying her dowdy niece.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ten of the best nameless protagonists in literature] Reference

For dowdy charm, try the White Swan in the colonial concession.    From Wordnik.com.  [Fast Track to Wuhan, China] Reference

"Pa, do you intend to let that dowdy little thing stay here?" cried.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Girl from Sunset Ranch Or, Alone in a Great City] Reference

Customers have complained, not always fairly, that Sears apparel is dowdy.    From Wordnik.com.  [Can The Man From Saks Save Sears?] Reference

Electric cars don't need to be dowdy and slow, if Ian Wright is to be believed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Wrightspeed's Protype: An Electric Car That Makes The Tesla Roadster Looks Slow (VIDEO)] Reference

"She's not such a dowdy as she seemed," whispered Hortense to the oldest sister.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Girl from Sunset Ranch Or, Alone in a Great City] Reference

I also feel as if it's my personal mission to make over every dowdy author I see.    From Wordnik.com.  [Melanie Benjamin: How to Dress an Author] Reference

Forget about those dowdy widowers who toiled like chattel and slept in the basement.    From Wordnik.com.  [You Called For Me, Sir?] Reference

When test-driving a pair of 2. 3-inch slingbacks, she felt "dowdy, like a '50s frump.".    From Wordnik.com.  [Leora Tanenbaum: Kitten Heels? Meow!] Reference

But sometimes being sensible and saving seems to mean just being commonplace and dowdy.    From Wordnik.com.  [How to Write Letters (Formerly The Book of Letters) A Complete Guide to Correct Business and Personal Correspondence] Reference

Why, you will be a regular dowdy, and I told Judith so when she showed me her purchase.    From Wordnik.com.  [Aunt Judith The Story of a Loving Life] Reference

There were smart people, just a scattering of the cultured, dowdy and dull folk, who had.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Scarlet Feather] Reference

This evening, Bostich is driving a dowdy, gray minivan, a symbol of his other Tijuana life.    From Wordnik.com.  [Nortec Collective Crosses Musical, Real Borders] Reference

The smell of printer's ink which hung about the dowdy, untidy, bankrupt printing-office had.    From Wordnik.com.  [Despair's Last Journey] Reference

I thought she was another denim dowdy herding her three jam stained kiddies through aisle 28.    From Wordnik.com.  [On Clearance] Reference

When she'd ended, the bracelet turned out to belong to a little dowdy woman looking like a meek mouse.    From Wordnik.com.  [Antony Gray,—Gardener] Reference

The famously dowdy Camilla -- dubbed "The Rottweiler" by Diana -- was attending the Chloe show in Paris.    From Wordnik.com.  [Nudes Of Prudes Start Two Family Feuds] Reference

When Chrysler designer Ralph Gilles first became a family man, he wasn't ready to drive a dowdy minivan.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Last Van Standing] Reference

Not a bad, dowdy little woman -- the man a worse stick in the drawing-room than the pulpit, if possible.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Sheaf of Corn] Reference

The most mischievous urchins are afraid to hurt the dowdy-cow, believing if they did evil would inevitably befall them.    From Wordnik.com.  [Notes and Queries, Number 09, December 29, 1849] Reference

The model looks like a Sibyl who wandered off the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to go shopping for something less dowdy.    From Wordnik.com.  [Una LaMarche: Project Runway Episode 7 Recap: Last Resort] Reference