Tinsel

English

Noun

Tinsel (uncountable)

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.
   • John Dryden:

     Who can discern the tinsel from the gold?

2. Very thin strips of a glittering, metallic material used as a decoration, and traditionally, draped at Christmas time over streamers, paper chains and the branches of Christmas trees.
3. Anything shining and gaudy; something superficially shining and showy, or having a false luster, and more gay than valuable.
   • William Cowper:

     O happy peasant! O unhappy bard! His the mere tinsel, hers the rich reward.

Adjective

Tinsel (comparative more Tinsel, superlative most Tinsel)

1. Showy to excess; gaudy; specious; superficial.
   • John Milton:

     Tinsel trappings.

Verb

Tinsel (third-person singular simple present tinsels, present participle tinselling (UK) or tinseling (US), simple past and past participle tinselled (UK) or tinseled (US))

1. (transitive) To adorn with tinsel; to deck out with cheap but showy ornaments; to make gaudy.
   • Alexander Pope:

     She, tinseled o'er in robes of varying hues.

2. (figuratively, transitive) To give something a false sparkle.

Derived terms

• tinseled, tinselled
• tinselly
• Tinseltown

See also

• trimmings
• trim up

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

Etymology

French étincelle (“spark”), from Old French estincelle, from Latin scintilla; compare scintillate, stencil.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /ˈtɪn.səl/
• Rhymes: -ɪnsəl

Translations

Noun

thin strips of a glittering

German: Lametta (de) n.

References

• Tinsel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• enlist
• inlets
• leints
• listen
• silent