jewelry
Americannoun
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articles of gold, silver, precious stones, etc., for personal adornment.
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any ornaments for personal adornment, as necklaces or cuff links, including those of base metals, glass, plastic, or the like.
Etymology
Origin of jewelry
1300–50; Middle English juelrie < Anglo-French juelerie, equivalent to juel jewel + -erie -ery
Explanation
Jewelry refers to an adornment (generally precious metal or stone) worn by a person, like a bracelet, ring, necklace, or earrings. Jewelry may be purely decorative, or it may express something — like a ring that says you are married. Humans have been in the jewelry business for a long time: A shell bracelet, or necklace was found in a cave in South Africa that dates back 75,000 years. Both a diamond ring from Tiffany’s and a handmade beaded bracelet are jewelry, but whether the jewel in jewelry is real or imitation, it is always spelled out. More than one piece of jewelry is still the same word.
Vocabulary lists containing jewelry
Commonly Misspelled Words, List 1
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In A Sedimental Mood: Rock and Gem Vocabulary
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List 8
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"I hand-modeled for a local jewelry store, I sell everything that sits longer than ten minutes at my house on Facebook swap sites, I resell clothes on ThredUp and Poshmark."
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
This historic 19th century royal jewelry set featuring fine Ceylon sapphires, diamonds and gold, famously associated with Queen Hortense and Queen Marie-Amélie, was partially stolen in the Musée du Louvre heist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
They departed at 7 a.m. on Aug. 17, carrying only two light backpacks with their computers, jewelry, some clothes and a little food.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
Niobium is present in our solar system and is also used on Earth in applications such as jewelry and medical imaging devices.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2026
A second Gestapo agent in plain clothes was pawing eagerly through a pile of silver rijksdaalders and jewelry heaped on the dining room table.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
