frippery
/ˈfrɪp(ə)ri
/noun (plural fripperies) [mass noun]
1Showy or unnecessary ornament in architecture, dress, or language: a strictly business building with not a hint of frippery [count noun]: they were swamped by the fripperies of the play...
- There wasn't nearly as much frippery on Gideon's dress, she could inhabit that dress.
- Melvin found himself glad he had not allowed Grover to dress him up in all his formal frippery, opting instead for riding breeches and a plain lawn shirt.
- But there in the middle of all this fanciness and frippery was this miserable, small, cold lump that, when cooked originally, had been burned.
Synonyms
ostentation, showiness, embellishment, ornamentation, ornament, adornment, decoration, trimming, garnishing, garnishment, gilding, beautification, prettification, gingerbread;
finery, luxury
informal flashiness, glitz, glitziness, bells and whistles
archaic trumpery
1.1 [count noun] A tawdry or frivolous thing: you’ll have to forgo fripperies like glossy mags...
- It's somewhat sobering to think that the device that Galileo helped to develop and used to make his discoveries is essentially the same design as the instrument that Rob was so quick to tire of and deride as a toy, a frippery.
- Phone companies tend to advertise their wares with gloss about downloadable music, cruddy cameras and other such fripperies.
- You obviously didn't need all these little fripperies living away from home.
Synonyms
trinket, bauble, knick-knack, gewgaw, gimcrack, bibelot, furbelow, ornament, novelty, curiosity, gimmick, trifle, bagatelle
informal whatnot
British informal doodah, doobry
archaic folderol, fallalery, whim-wham, kickshaw, bijou, gaud
adjective archaic
Frivolous and tawdry.
Origin
Mid 16th century (denoting old or second-hand clothes): from French friperie, from Old French freperie, from frepe 'rag', of unknown ultimate origin.