papier-mâché

American  

[pey-per-muh-shey, -ma-, pa-pyey-mah-shey] / ˌpeɪ pər məˈʃeɪ, -mæ-, pa pyeɪ mɑˈʃeɪ /

Also paper-mâché

noun

1. a substance made of pulped paper or paper pulp mixed with glue and other materials or of layers of paper glued and pressed together, molded when moist to form various articles, and becoming hard and strong when dry.

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adjective

1. made of papier-mâché.

2. easily destroyed or discredited; false, pretentious, or illusory.

   a papier-mâché façade of friendship.

papier-mâché British  

/ ˌpæpjeɪˈmæʃeɪ, papjemɑʃe /

noun

1. a hard strong substance suitable for painting on, made of paper pulp or layers of paper mixed with paste, size, etc, and moulded when moist

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adjective

1. made of papier-mâché

Etymology

Origin of papier-mâché

1745–55; < French: literally, “chewed paper”

Example Sentences

His mother had been leaving his laundry outside his door ever since the morning three months ago when she had stepped in a vat of papier-mache that was sitting in front of his dresser.

From Literature

The other wall had a giant rainbow-colored papier-mâché hand, its pointer finger sticking straight out and beneath it the words You Belong scrawled in loopy neon letters.

From Literature

The skeleton depicted in the painting echoed the papier-mache version that hung above Kahlo's bed, according to Sotheby's.

From Barron's

The scene she depicts even imitates her real life: Kahlo actually kept a smaller, papier-mâché skeleton atop her own canopy bed in Mexico City as a reassuring symbol of death’s ubiquity.

From The Wall Street Journal

Penelope’s few possessions—including her broken tiara, her ruined princess costume, and her papier-mâché seashell—were already in her bag.

From Literature