Trinket

/ˈtɹɪŋkɪt/ · noun

Meaning

A small, showy ornament, especially a piece of jewellery..

Definitions by Sense

1. A small, showy ornament, especially a piece of jewellery.
2. (figurative) A thing of little practical and/or monetary value; a toy, a trifle.
3. A small item of food; a small dainty.
4. A small item forming part of a set of equipment; an accessory, an accoutrement.
5. An item used in a religious rite (also, a religious rite, belief, etc.) regarded as superfluous or trivial.
6. (transitive, rare) Often followed by out: to adorn (someone or something) with trinkets (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1).
7. (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland) A narrow or small watercourse.
8. (UK, dialectal, chiefly Cheshire, Lancashire, obsolete) A small vessel for drinking from; a cup, a mug, a porringer.

Example Sentences

That little trinket around her neck must have cost a bundle.

[H]e's an old man, / A good old man, they ſay too: I dare ſvveare / Full many a yeare ago, he left theſe gambols: / Here, take your trinkets.

Hence is the Fair vvith Ornaments ſupply'd, / Hence ſprung the glitt'ring Implements of Pride; / Each Trinket that adorns the modern Dame, / Firſt to theſe little Artiſts ovv'd its Frame.

Glumdalclitch vvrapped it [the broken finger from a statue] up in a Handkerchief; and carried it home in her Pocket to keep among other Trinkets, of vvhich the Girl vvas very fond, as Children at her Age uſually are.

This [the hawksbill turtle] is the animal that ſupplies the tortoiſe-ſhell, of vvhich ſuch a variety of beautiful trinkets are made.

James [II] ordered an estimate to be made of the cost of such a procession, and found that it would amount to about half as much as he proposed to expend in covering his wife [Mary of Modena] with trinkets. He accordingly determined to be profuse where he ought to have been frugal, and niggardly where he might pardonably have been profuse. More than one hundred thousand pounds were laid out in dressing the queen, and the procession from the Tower was omitted.

It’s only a little trinket, but it reminds her of him.

There is no art about the Eiffel Tower. In no way can it be said to have contributed to the real beauty of the Exhibition. Men flocked to see it and ascended it as it was a novelty and of unique dimensions. It was the toy of the Exhibition. So long as we are children we are attracted by toys, and the Tower was a good demonstration of the fact that we are all children attracted by trinkets. That may be claimed to be the purpose served by the Eiffel Tower.

Synonyms for trinket

Antonyms for trinket

Related Words

Word Forms

• trinkets
• trinketing
• trinketed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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