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Synonyms

bibelot

American  
[bib-loh, beebuh-loh] / ˈbɪb loʊ, bibəˈloʊ /

noun

  • bibelots
    plural
  1. a small object of curiosity, beauty, or rarity.


bibelot British  
/ ˈbɪbləʊ, biblo /

noun

  1. an attractive or curious trinket

  2. a miniature book

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of bibelot

1870–75; < French, equivalent to bibel- (expressive formation akin to bauble ) + -ot noun suffix

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.

See Examples For:

Gewgaw, a shiny trinket Bon Voyage A trinket or a knickknack, an ornament, a kickshaw, a frippery, a gimcrack, a bibelot, a gewgaw .

From Washington Post Aug. 12, 2021

He finds it painful to see this memento of colonialism and bondage turned into an amusing bibelot, but he also loves the woman in whose household it is displayed.

From New York Times Oct. 14, 2019

Serotonin is a tiny molecule, a bibelot built of just 10 carbon atoms, a dozen hydrogens, two nitrogens and a single oxygen.

From New York Times May 2, 2011

At least this gross bibelot has some authenticity, as do Manuel Ocampo's frantic, heavy-handed but indubitably sincere paintings in an idiom derived from Filipino popular religious art.

From Time Magazine Archive

He had read “Notre-Dame” himself, but in English, out of a common book like any common book—not out of a bibelot.

From Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett

Do you need to hide some cash, jewelry or other bibelots that have sentimental value?

From Seattle Times Apr. 22, 2024

Norma has a weakness for massive jewelry, and gifts Joe with gold bibelots.

From Washington Post Dec. 30, 2022

There are no animal acts either, just a furry boar's head mounted above shelves handsomely arrayed with books and bibelots.

From Seattle Times Feb. 16, 2012

Her ensemble is enhanced with, among bibelots by masters like Robert Lee Morris and Ted Muehling, a thick chain she bought many years ago when she was in Turkey on a Fulbright scholarship.

From New York Times Oct. 12, 2011

Even in the happiest times he’d made fun of my California accent, my secondhand overcoat and my room barren of tasteful bibelots, but in such an ingenuous way I couldn’t possibly do anything but laugh.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

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