papier-mâché

Also pa·per-mâ·ché

[pey-per-muh-shey, -ma-, pa-pyey-mah-shey]

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.

adjective

1. made of papier-mâché.

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

   a papier-mâché façade of friendship.

papier-mâché

/ 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

adjective

1. made of papier-mâché

Word History and Origins

Origin of papier-mâché¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of papier-mâché¹

C18: from French, literally: chewed paper

Example Sentences

In 1927, the “Buffalo Times” gave us an eyeroll in print over an igloo-shaped restaurant with papier-mache icicles, a merry-go-round restaurant with revolving tables, a “bullpen” restaurant with a live bull and waiters dressed as matadors.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

One of the most famous involved Frank Morris, and brothers Clarence and John Anglin, who escaped in June 1962 by placing papier-mâché heads in their beds and breaking out through ventilation ducts.

Read more on BBC

Without fail, there is at least one big movie every year that falls prey to the adage “style over substance,” a film that postures as an opus, but is really just filled with hot air and covered in papier-mâché with the word “masterpiece” scrawled all over its still-drying surface.

Read more on Salon

Above us were giant papier-mâché heads of alebrijes — colorful Mexican folk art figurines — used at LA Librería’s recent appearance at the L.A.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Her first intervention was to style the windows, which she thought were boring, adding mannequins and whimsical objects like papier-mâché dogs.

Read more on New York Times