tinsel
Americannoun
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a glittering metallic substance, as copper or brass, in thin sheets, used in pieces, strips, threads, etc., to produce a sparkling effect cheaply.
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a metallic yarn, usually wrapped around a core yarn of silk, rayon, or cotton, for weaving brocade or lamé.
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anything showy or attractive with little or no real worth; showy pretense.
The actress was tired of the fantasy and tinsel of her life.
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Obsolete. a fabric, formerly in use, of silk or wool interwoven with threads of gold, silver, or, later, copper.
verb (used with object)
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to adorn with tinsel.
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to adorn with anything glittering.
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to make showy or gaudy.
noun
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a decoration consisting of a piece of string with thin strips of metal foil attached along its length
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a yarn or fabric interwoven with strands of glittering thread
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anything cheap, showy, and gaudy
verb
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to decorate with or as if with tinsel
snow tinsels the trees
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to give a gaudy appearance to
adjective
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made of or decorated with tinsel
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showily but cheaply attractive; gaudy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tinsel
First recorded in 1495–1505; by shortening of Middle French estincelle ( Old French estincele ) “a spark, flash,” from Vulgar Latin stincilla, unrecorded variant of Latin scintilla; first used attributively in phrases tinsel satin, tinsel cloth; see scintilla
Explanation
The shiny silver strands hanging from the branches of a Christmas tree are called tinsel. Tinsel is older than you might think—it was invented in 1610! Tinsel was designed to mimic the way ice looks, and the earliest tinsel was made from strips of real silver (today's tinsel is PVC plastic with a metallic coating). It's a traditional Christmas decoration that is also frequently used in India for wedding celebrations and other ceremonies. You can also use the word tinsel to refer to things that look fancy but are actually worthless—which is where Hollywood's nickname, Tinseltown, comes from.
Vocabulary lists containing tinsel
Joy To The Word: Christmas Terms
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Miracles on Maple Hill
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for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf
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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:
Just 30 minutes later, his key worker Cookson put him down again for a second sleep in the afternoon, placing him inside a small teepee that was decorated in tinsel for Christmas.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
“Let’s pack our bags, grab some tinsel and emotionally prepare for a hearty serving of family dysfunction,” the streamer said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2026
“For that, we added lots of swallow-tailed ribbons for an extra pop of color … underneath all the tinsel which is Zooey’s absolute favorite!” he added.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 30, 2025
"We bring in a few mince pies, the site offices might have a bit of tinsel around," he says.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2025
And the lights on our tree will be all different colors, and there’ll be all kinds of balls and tons of tinsel, you’ll think the tree was silver.
From "Crash" by Jerry Spinelli
As artists and writers know all too well, there’s no place like home for the holidays, with tensions simmering beneath the tinseled surface of foil-wrapped presents and forced cheer.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 7, 2022
Please understand, I’m not a wraith in sackcloth among the tinseled brides of fortune.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2019
And while my beard has tinseled, the intervening years haven’t exactly been kind to Rome either.
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2017
Those who reject it — Scrooge, the Grinch — must be forced into its tinseled embrace.
From Time ● Dec. 24, 2011
Within an hour or two, the holiday would come bounding down the stairs and squealing ’round the tinseled trees of Two Mills.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
Christmas only really starts when her tinselled tonsils appear on the radio.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2021
Inside, the tinselled high school is overstuffed with actors from the show—all beautifully graduated from puberty—breathing in the vapors of nostalgia.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 14, 2018
I say altar; it was actually a tinselled corner of R&R's.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 27, 2013
Old Mr. Bushrod Mosby she had known for years—a veritable rustic macaroni, a piece of tinselled flotsam floating on backwater.
From Stubble by Looms, George
Her arms were filled with the yellow plumes and her dress was tinselled with the dried pollen that floated in the air.
From The Voice of the People by Glasgow, Ellen Anderson Gholson
Seats were provided for these workers except for those at tinselling; and if they found they were able to complete the task easily, they sat at the work.
From Making Both Ends Meet The income and outlay of New York working girls by Clark, Sue Ainslie
Definitions 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.
