frippery
noun
frip·pery ˈfri-p(ə-)rē 
plural fripperies
1
obsolete
a
: cast-off clothes
b
archaic : a place where old clothes are sold
2
a
: finery
also : an elegant or showy garment
b
: something showy, frivolous, or nonessential
c
: ostentation
especially : something foolish or affectedly elegant
Synonyms
- array
- best
- bravery
- caparison
- feather
- finery
- full dress
- gaiety
- gayety
- glad rags
- regalia
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
The design is simple and devoid of needless frippery. dressed in their most elegant frippery for the big gala at the symphony
Recent Examples on the Web How can the Zelenskys indulge in such frippery when there’s a war on? 
Melik Kaylan, WSJ, 1 Aug. 2022 Back in 1990, the CRX Si didn't have airbags, let alone touchscreens or digital frippery. Eric Stafford, Car and Driver, 13 June 2022 My Lightning is the ideal Lightning, bereft of frippery but fitted with the most powerful motors, an homage to its tail-happy namesake. Car and Driver, 11 May 2022 All the frippery and pressures of their lives were left behind in Palermo. Stanley Stewart, Travel + Leisure, 24 Apr. 2022 Yet in the end, amid all the fun and frippery, the one garment that most lingered was perhaps the least elaborate, least formal of all: the T-shirt worn by Billie Eilish for her performance. New York Times, 4 Apr. 2022 Fans repaid her with a fierce devotion, showing up to her readings in their finest vampiric frippery. Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2021 In the last act, Wagner removes all the frippery, with just three characters and their own personal stories. Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2021 Robin’s deep knowledge of Portland history—displaying his sense of tradition underneath the frippery—gradually but ineluctably leads to the movie’s meatball scene, the one that delivers its dose of populist demagogy in a single bite. Richard Brod, The New Yorker, 17 July 2021 See More
Melik Kaylan, WSJ, 1 Aug. 2022 Back in 1990, the CRX Si didn't have airbags, let alone touchscreens or digital frippery. Eric Stafford, Car and Driver, 13 June 2022 My Lightning is the ideal Lightning, bereft of frippery but fitted with the most powerful motors, an homage to its tail-happy namesake. Car and Driver, 11 May 2022 All the frippery and pressures of their lives were left behind in Palermo. Stanley Stewart, Travel + Leisure, 24 Apr. 2022 Yet in the end, amid all the fun and frippery, the one garment that most lingered was perhaps the least elaborate, least formal of all: the T-shirt worn by Billie Eilish for her performance. New York Times, 4 Apr. 2022 Fans repaid her with a fierce devotion, showing up to her readings in their finest vampiric frippery. Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2021 In the last act, Wagner removes all the frippery, with just three characters and their own personal stories. Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2021 Robin’s deep knowledge of Portland history—displaying his sense of tradition underneath the frippery—gradually but ineluctably leads to the movie’s meatball scene, the one that delivers its dose of populist demagogy in a single bite. Richard Brod, The New Yorker, 17 July 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle French friperie, alteration of Old French freperie, from frepe old garment
First Known Use
1568, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
frippery
noun
1
as in finery
dressy clothing dressed in their most elegant frippery for the big gala at the symphony Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- finery
- attire
- costume
- regalia
- gayety
- best
- bravery
- gaiety
- apparel
- caparison
- feather
- full dress
- rags
- toggery
- glad rags
- raiment
- best bib and tucker
- wear
- array
- duds
- vesture
- rigging
- threads
- togs
- rig
- vestiary
- habiliment(s)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- tatters
- disarray
- dishabille
2
as in nothing
something of little importance socialites whose lives were almost entirely consumed by fripperies Synonyms & Similar Words
- nothing
- triviality
- trifle
- bagatelle
- picayune
- small change
- small beer
- nonproblem
- nonsense
- naught
- piffle
- shuck(s)
- zero
- claptrap
- nothingness
- smoke
- pittance
- straw
- hogwash
- trivia
- humbug
- humbuggery
- folly
- peanuts
- drivel
- nought
- child's play
- speck
- fudge
- two bits
- bit
- trash
- scintilla
- rot
- soupçon
- shred
- bunk
- smidgen
- crumb
- touch
- song
- smidgin
- pinhead
- smidgeon
- dram
- particle
- ounce
- tad
- fribble
- mite
- smidge
- lick
- dab
- spot
- trace