矫揉造作 (jiǎo róu zào zuò) — affected, artificial, pretentious (of behavior, speech, or style)

Definition

Examples

• 她的表演太过矫揉造作，观众一眼就能看出来。
  Tā de biǎo yǎn tài guò jiǎo róu zào zuò, guān zhòng yì yǎn jiù néng kàn chū lái.
  Her performance was too affected — the audience could tell at a glance.
• 这篇文章语言矫揉造作，读起来很不自然。
  Zhè piān wén zhāng yǔ yán jiǎo róu zào zuò, dú qǐ lái hěn bú zì rán.
  This article's language is pretentious and reads very unnaturally.
• 他说话时总爱用一些生僻词，显得十分矫揉造作。
  Tā shuō huà shí zǒng ài yòng yì xiē shēng pì cí, xiǎn de shí fēn jiǎo róu zào zuò.
  He always likes to use obscure words when speaking, which makes him seem very affected.