Adjacent Words

Tinsel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TIN'SEL, n. Something very shining and gaudy; something superficially shining and showy, or having a false luster, and more gay than valuable.
Who can discern the tinsel from the gold?
If the man will too curiously examine the superficial tinsel good, he undeceives himself to his cost.
1. A kind of shining cloth.
2. A kind of lace.
TIN'SEL, a. Gaudy; showy to excess; specious; superficial.
TIN'SEL, v.t. To adorn with something glittering and showy without much value; to make gaudy.
She, tinsel'd o'er in robes of varying hues--

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a showy decoration that is basically valueless; "all the tinsel of self-promotion"
2: a thread with glittering metal foil attached v
1: impart a cheap brightness to; "his tinseled image of Hollywood"
2: adorn with tinsel; "snow flakes tinseled the trees"
3: interweave with tinsel; "tinseled velvet"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English tyneseyle cloth interwoven with metallic thread, probably from Anglo-French tencelé, past participle of tenceler, estenceler to sparkle — more at stencil Date: 1538 1. threads, strips, or sheets of metal, paper, or plastic used to produce a glittering and sparkling appearance in fabrics, yarns, or decorations 2. something superficially attractive or glamorous but of little real worth <disfigured by no gaudy tinsel of rhetoric or declamation — Thomas Jefferson> II. adjective Date: 1575 1. made of or covered with tinsel 2. a. cheaply gaudy ; tawdry b. specious, superficial <tinsel promises> III. transitive verb (tinseled or tinselled; tinseling or tinselling) Date: 1594 1. to interweave, overlay, or adorn with or as if with tinsel 2. to impart a specious brightness to

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 glittering metallic strips, threads, etc., used as decoration to give a sparkling effect. 2 a fabric adorned with tinsel. 3 superficial brilliance or splendour. 4 (attrib.) showy, gaudy, flashy. --v.tr. (tinselled, tinselling) adorn with or as with tinsel. Derivatives: tinselled adj. tinselly adj. Etymology: OF estincele spark f. L scintilla

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tinsel Tin"sel, n. [F. ['e]tincelle a spark, OF. estincelle, L. scintilla. Cf. Scintillate, Stencil.] 1. A shining material used for ornamental purposes; especially, a very thin, gauzelike cloth with much gold or silver woven into it; also, very thin metal overlaid with a thin coating of gold or silver, brass foil, or the like. Who can discern the tinsel from the gold? --Dryden. 2. Something shining and gaudy; something superficially shining and showy, or having a false luster, and more gay than valuable. O happy peasant! O unhappy bard! His the mere tinsel, hers the rich reward. --Cowper.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tinsel Tin"sel, a. Showy to excess; gaudy; specious; superficial. ``Tinsel trappings.'' --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tinsel Tin"sel, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tinseledor Tinselled; p. pr. & vb. n. Tinseling or Tinselling.] To adorn with tinsel; to deck out with cheap but showy ornaments; to make gaudy. She, tinseled o'er in robes of varying hues. --Pope.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Tinsel consists of small strips of shiny paper attached to long pieces of thread. People use tinsel as a decoration at Christmas.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Frippery, finery, gewgaw, tawdriness, spangle, glitter, paste, pinchbeck, worthless ornament. II. a. Showy, glittering, gaudy, specious, garish, flaunting, flashy, superficial, worthless.

Moby Thesaurus

affected, apocryphal, apparent, artificial, assumed, bastard, bead, bejewel, beribbon, bespangle, blatant, blink, blinking, bogus, bravery, brazen, brummagem, cheat, chiffon, chintzy, clinquant, colorable, colored, coruscate, coruscation, counterfeit, counterfeited, diamond, distorted, dressed up, dummy, embellished, embroidered, engrave, ersatz, factitious, fake, faked, fakement, falsified, feather, feigned, festoons, fictitious, fictive, figure, filigree, finery, firefly, flag, flashy, flounce, flower, folderol, foofaraw, forgery, frame-up, fraud, frilliness, frilling, frills, frills and furbelows, frippery, froufrou, fuss, gaiety, garbled, garish, garland, gaudery, gem, gilded, gilding, gilt, gingerbread, glaring, glimmer, glimmering, glisk, glisten, glister, glitter, glittering, glowworm, hoax, illegitimate, illuminate, imitation, impostor, jewel, junk, junky, loud, make-believe, man-made, meretricious, mock, ostensible, paint, paste, perverted, phony, pinchbeck, plausible, plume, pretended, pseudo, put-on, put-up job, quasi, queer, ribbon, rip-off, scintilla, scintillate, scintillation, seeming, self-styled, sham, shimmer, shimmering, shoddy, simulacrum, simulated, so-called, soi-disant, spangle, spark, sparkle, specious, spurious, stroboscopic light, superfluity, supposititious, swindle, synthetic, tawdry, tin, titivated, trappings, trickery, trumpery, twinkle, twinkling, twisted, unauthentic, ungenuine, unnatural, unreal, warped, whited sepulcher, wreathe