clinquant
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of clinquant
1585–95; < Middle French: clinking, present participle of clinquer (< Dutch klinken to sound); see -ant
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.
Descartes has almost entirely discarded this quaintness, which sometimes passed into what is called in French clinquant, that is to say, tawdry and grotesque ornament.
From A Short History of French Literature by George Saintsbury
I liked Jack, but not clinquant in crimson and gold, with spurs and sword clanking on the hard, frost-bitten road.
From The Yeoman Adventurer by George W. Gough
Anecdotes of Painting," says, "Lely supplied the want of taste with clinquant; his nymphs trail fringes, and embroidery, through meadows and purling streams.
From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851 by Various
My eyes rejoice in the shine of it; its clinquant sound is music in my ears.
From Trivia by Logan Pearsall Smith
To-day the French, All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, Shone down the English; and, to-morrow, they Made Britain India: every man that stood Show'd like a mine.
From King Henry VIII by William Shakespeare
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