tinsel
To adorn with tinselTo adorn (something) with tinsel.: To ornament (fabric, etc.) by weaving into it thread of gold, silver, or some other shiny material.
Recorded UK: Speaker: Vealhurl Recorder: Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» Should we get tinsel or garland for the Christmas tree?
LimeGreenTeknii · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
4 sensesTo adorn (something) with tinsel.
(also, figuratively, transitive)To ornament (fabric, etc.) by weaving into it thread of gold, silver, or some other shiny material.
(broadly, transitive)To deck out (a place or something) with showy but cheap ornaments; to make gaudy.
(figuratively, transitive)To give (something) a false or superficial attractiveness.
(Scotland, obsolete, rare, transitive)To cause (someone) damage or loss; also, to impose a fine on (someone); to mulct.
- interweave with tinsel
- adorn with tinsel
- impart a cheap brightness to
Examples
6 sentencesShould we get tinsel or garland for the Christmas tree?
When we decorate our Christmas tree, tinsel always gets stuck to our clothes.
Buy some purple tinsel.
Hang tinsel from both branches.
I bought some purple tinsel.
Origin
The noun is derived from Middle English tinsel (“cloth containing gold or silver thread”)The noun is derived from Middle English tinsel (“cloth containing gold or silver thread”) [and other forms], probably from Anglo-Norman tincel, tincelle, tencele, and then:
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
tinsels, tinseling, tinseled, tinseledSynonyms
1 synonymsWord family
2 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.