Tinsel

/ˈtɪns(ə)l/ · noun

Meaning

(obsolete) A shining fabric used for ornamental purposes..

Definitions by Sense

1. (obsolete) A shining fabric used for ornamental purposes.
2. 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.
3. Anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable.
4. (obsolete) Of fabric: ornamented by being woven with gold or silver thread, or overlaid with thin metal plates; brocaded.
5. Glittering.
6. Apparently beautiful and costly but having little value; superficially attractive; gaudy, showy, tawdry.
7. To adorn (something) with tinsel.
8. (figuratively) To give (something) a false or superficial attractiveness.

Example Sentences

O! it is divine and moſt admirable, and ſo farre beyond all that ever he publiſhed heretofore, as day-light beyond candle-light, or tinſell or leafe-gold above arſedine; […]

A tawdry scarf of yellow silk, trimmed with tinsel and spangles, which had seen as hard service, and boasted as honourable a transmission, was next flung over one shoulder, and fell across her person in the manner of a shoulder-belt or baldrick.

He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him not so much of the aerial photographs of today but rather of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.

Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold, / And all her ſteed with tinſell trappings ſhone, / Which fledd ſo faſt, that nothing mote him hold, / And ſcarſe them leaſure gaue, her paſſing to behold.

Yet ſcatter'd here and there I ſome behold, / Who can diſcern the Tinſel from the Gold: […]

O happy peaſant! O unhappy bard! / His the mere tinſel, her's the rich reward; / He prais'd perhaps for ages yet to come, / She never heard of half a mile from home; / He loſt in errors his vain heart prefers, / She ſafe in the ſimplicity of hers.

[T]hey have been the delusive prologue to an age worse than that of iron—the age of tinsel and gossamer, in which no thought has substance enough to be moulded into consistent and lasting form.

Liſten and appeare to us / In the name of great Oceanus, / […] / By Leucothea’s lovely hands, / And her ſon that rules the ſtrands, / By Thetis tinſel-ſlipper’d feet; […]

Synonyms for tinsel

Antonyms for tinsel

Related Words

Word Forms

• tinsels
• tinseling
• tinselling
• tinseled
• tinselled

Usage Notes

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