finery
1 Americannoun
noun
-
fineries
plural
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of finery1
First recorded in 1670–80; fine 1 + -ery
Origin of finery2
1600–10; < Middle French finerie, equivalent to fin ( er ) to refine ( see fine 1) + erie -ery
Explanation
Finery is fancy and expensive clothing and jewelry. A lot of high school students look forward to the prom as a chance to dress up in their finery. Your fanciest clothes are finery, especially if they're elaborate or pricey. Many people dress in finery to attend formal weddings, wearing long gowns and well-tailored tuxedos. The fancy shoes, hats, necklaces, and ties are all also considered to be finery. The word came into use around 1670, literally meaning "something that is fine," from the "high quality" meaning of fine.
Vocabulary lists containing finery
Beowulf
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Tolkien Reading Day, List 9
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Crossing the Wire
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Men dressed as pirates follow along in their own finery.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
With centuries of French finery to draw on, the Palais Galliera, the city’s fashion museum, regularly mounts temporary exhibitions to showcase its fragile collection.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026
With the glamorous catwalks, celebrities and excess of finery on display, the possibility of the recent investigations uncovering labour abuses being on anyone's mind appeared slim.
From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026
The remarkable thing is that Trump is fine with eliminating all this finery.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2025
She could see them like the inhabitants of a great city in their finery and gold.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
While most festivalgoers don the likes of velvet, bodices, feathered caps and other fineries, Matthews and his friends coordinated peasant-inspired costumes in an effort to represent the everyman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2022
The burial site, and particularly the crown and other fineries interred with the woman, hinted at a premodern European culture in which women might have held considerable power.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2021
A cathedral can endure the loss of its stained glass and other fineries, as has happened in Britain where all our cathedrals were vandalised in the Reformation and civil war.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 16, 2019
Lauren visited the fineries of Asian fashion in bright-dragon embroideries, silks and satins, and the perfect fit of a slim silhouette.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 17, 2011
Some broken derelict with nothing but the memory of former vain splendours and the rags of old fineries, nursing a dear hatred for some more fortunate fellow.
From The Green Rust by Edgar Wallace
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
