tinsel
IPA: tˈɪnsʌɫ
noun
- (obsolete) A shining fabric used for ornamental purposes.
- A silk or wool fabric with gold or silver thread woven into it; brocade.
- A very thin, gauzelike cloth with gold or silver (or, later, copper) thread woven into it, or overlaid with thin metal plates.
- (by extension)
- A thin, shiny foil for ornamental purposes which is of a material made of metal or resembling metal; especially, narrow glittering strips of such a material, often strung on to thread, and traditionally at Christmastime draped on Christmas trees, hung from balustrades or ceilings, or wrapped around objects as a decoration.
- (figuratively) Anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable.
- (obsolete) Damage, detriment; loss.
- (law, archaic) Deprivation; forfeiture.
verb
- To adorn (something) with tinsel.
- (also figuratively) To ornament (fabric, etc.) by weaving into it thread of gold, silver, or some other shiny material.
- (by extension) To deck out (a place or something) with showy but cheap ornaments; to make gaudy.
- (figuratively) To give (something) a false or superficial attractiveness.
- (transitive, Scotland, obsolete, rare) To cause (someone) damage or loss; also, to impose a fine on (someone); to mulct.
adjective
- (obsolete) Of fabric: ornamented by being woven with gold or silver thread, or overlaid with thin metal plates; brocaded.
- (by extension)
- (obsolete) Glittering.
- (figuratively) Apparently beautiful and costly but having little value; superficially attractive; gaudy, showy, tawdry.
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Examples of "tinsel" in Sentences
- The tinsel paper dropped by bombers.
- I call such talk blarney, hype, and tinsel.
- The nation's capitol was moved to tinsel town.
- I think eventually, someone stuck some tinsel on, but...
- Beneath all the tinsel and glamour it is a lot of very hard work.
- Tinsel was originally a metallic garland for Christmas decoration.
- Around the broom, imitating tinsel, is wrapped the gauze from a bandage.
- Dionysius describes his composition as tinselled, ignoble and effeminate.
- They are distinguished by an anterior tinsel flagellum on their zoospores.
- If it does not get transformed into devotion, such knowledge is useless tinsel.
- I love every mangy, threadbare scrap of tinsel, every broken little festive bulb, with all my heart.
- Regardless of temperature, blizzards, or general apathy, the tinsel is tossed the first day of December.
- The staggering on too-high heels, the silly hats, the little black dresses covered in tinsel and the semi-drunken jokes about handcuffs.
- Along with the thin tinsel there were twisted red and green crepe paper streamers that hung in loops from the corners of the room, and balloons too.
- They did, after all, drop their hosts from the rafters like Ziegfeld showgirls, while draping the proscenium in tinsel lights and the stage in drapes.
- I scored 11 out of 15 which came with a cheerful holiday message: Good try but the tinsel is looking a little tatty and your needles are starting to drop.
- To create a character, you take a shiny button here, a strand of hair there, a bit of tinsel from the garbage can, and build something which, you hope, will look like a person.
- Under a square glass case on the mantel-shelf, lifted high above the busy scene, stood a statue of the Virgin, very old and very ugly, dressed in tinsel, a necklace of colored beads around its neck.
- Interestingly though, the English word 'tinsel' is actually taken, not from German but from the French word 'estincele', which translates roughly as 'sparkle'. deklin42, posted this comment on Dec 3rd, 2009
- Well, the tinsel is being put away, lights are being torn down, eggnog hangovers are being nursed, and entire legions of families are sitting around the table, eating breakfast in awkward silence after the drunken revelations from the night before.