frippery

American  

[frip-uh-ree] / ˈfrɪp ə ri /

noun

plural

fripperies

1. finery in dress, especially when showy, gaudy, or the like.

2. empty display; ostentation.

3. gewgaws; trifles.

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frippery British  

/ ˈfrɪpərɪ /

noun

1. ornate or showy clothing or adornment

2. showiness; ostentation

3. unimportant considerations; trifles; trivia

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Etymology

Origin of frippery

1560–70; < French friperie, Old French freperie, equivalent to frepe rag + -erie -ery

Explanation

Frippery is something showy but trivial. You might think you need a feather boa, but your sister might say it’s just frippery. Frippery comes from the French word friperie for "old clothes,” and originally, frippery referred to old, trashy and maybe even tawdry clothes. From there, the word spread to include other kinds of things that aren't worth much. Often, frippery refers to nonsense, or language that is empty and just a lot of hot air. Use this word when you want to say something is showy but ultimately empty of value.

Example Sentences

Brushing ahead all that geeky frippery, though, and what’s plainest about that scene is how unsettling it is.

From Salon • Jan. 18, 2025

To illustrate this, Ford has interpreted the idea of “battle” literally: the mannequins, in all their gorgeous chiffons and fringed and fan-pleated frippery are fencing and flying through the air karate-chopping each other.

From New York Times • May 6, 2022

One important function of the Academy Awards, often lost amid the frippery and frivolity, is to help the nominated movies find those audiences and those moments.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 21, 2022

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 reiterated his insistence that in Chicago “simplicity and reserve will be practiced and petty effects and frippery avoided.”

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson