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Showing results for costume jewelry. Search instead for birthstone jewelry.
Synonyms

costume jewelry

American  

noun

  1. jewelry made of nonprecious metals, sometimes gold-plated or silver-plated, often set with imitation or semiprecious stones.


Etymology

Origin of costume jewelry

An Americanism dating back to 1930–35

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:

Under the floorboards of her closet, Smith conceals “glittering refuse I had scavenged from trash bins, fragments of costume jewelry, rosary beads,” along with a blue toothbrush she’s invested with magical powers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025

After two years of mostly small exchanges — cookbook galleys, costume jewelry, a set of dinner plates with just the right heft — we brought home something that, improbably, shifted the cadence of our cooking.

From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2025

She loved costume jewelry, as well as pieces by the Danish silversmith Georg Jensen and chairs, which she bought in abundance.

From New York Times ● May 6, 2023

Now, however, factories produced clothing, shoes, cookware, furniture, soap, toys, books, musical instruments, and costume jewelry in such quantities that they could be sold at prices the working class could afford.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

It used to be small-time stuff like costume jewelry for his mother and candy bars and newspapers.

From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel

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