noun

• 1A form of decoration consisting of thin strips of shiny metal foil attached to a long piece of thread.

  ‘a room bedecked with tinsel and fairy lights’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Another reader said hanging Christmas tinsel or aluminium foil strips in trees where fruit bats feed also works well.’
  • ‘There wasn't a single extra piece of tinsel, no baubles, no lights, no street entertainment at all.’
  • ‘In one striking image, a porch is shown elaborately decorated for Christmas with tinsel, stockings, ornaments and toys.’
  • ‘At that time, it was unthinkable that anyone would believe that it was anything but real, especially after a decoration of tinsel and an assortment of differently shaped and coloured baubles.’
  • ‘I am careful not to push loose the strand of tinsel Christmas decorations that I left strung across the room.’
  • ‘Clad in silver foil and dripping with tinsel, glam-rockers were perfectly suited to the knees-up, mine's-a-double jollity of a proper Christmas party.’
  • ‘A piece of green tinsel was twirled around her call-bell.’
  • ‘We took balloons and tinsel to decorate the black netting sunshade under which we had a traditional feast of a huge chicken wrapped in foil and cooked on the beach barbecue all morning.’
  • ‘Sadly, it's yet another case of Congressional false advertising - a lump of coal wrapped in shiny tinsel.’
  • ‘A camel ambles past, decorated in tinsel and red trappings.’
  • ‘The students will also dress in fancy dress as well as dressing up the animals using Christmas decorations such as tinsel and lights.’
  • ‘Oh, and this strip of tinsel is already beginning to irritate me.’
  • ‘I like a really old fashioned Christmas, where the decorations are larded with tinsel and as tacky as they can be.’
  • ‘These were aluminum strips not unlike tinsel and were dropped from the aircraft to obscure the enemy's radar with ‘snow.’’
  • ‘This is why tinsel is used to decorate Christmas trees.’
  • ‘The once bare evergreen branches are now adorned with silver tinsel and glittering ornaments.’
  • ‘The gaudy tinsel and the 155,000 lights of 2004 have given way to a more natural look of Christmas trees decorated with white lilies and pink roses that are replaced as they wilt.’
  • ‘I think they'd prefer a splash of tinsel round the school instead.’
  • ‘They also wanted the airport to donate last year's tinsel and festive décor to local community groups.’
  • ‘What they don't realise is that tinsel and tawdry jokes take the joy out of the season of goodwill.’

  Synonyms

  spangle, glitter, metallic yarn

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Showy or superficial attractiveness or glamour.
     ‘his taste for the tinsel of the art world’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The presence of glamorous tinsel stars add more sheen to any function with frenzied crowd trying to have a glimpse of their favourite stars.’
     • ‘But it's alternative; it's for people who think glamour is not tinsel.’
     • ‘At the end, she waved to the crowd with a tinsel glamour and sported a forced, yet innocent smile, revealing her missing tooth.’
     • ‘Like them he too had little difficulty entering the glitzy and glamorous tinsel world.’
     • ‘As well as these tinsel tales, there are large numbers of records, still being slowly translated, which provide a complement to the operatic version of Persian history: the Persians in documentary.’
     • ‘Mainstream tinsel world celebrities have left for Dubai by Emirates Airlines today to give special performances in Dubai on May 29 and then in London on May 31.’
     • ‘With hardly any releases to speak of in the last couple of years, and no more than a single hit from her last five productions, it should be easy to dismiss her as just another ambitious woman in the glamorous tinsel world.’
     • ‘The festival screened as many as 25 short and docufilms of exceptional quality, a visual delight to those who crave for realism in the highly commercialised tinsel world.’
     • ‘Such is their distaste for tinsel distinctions that, throughout the devolved parliament's long, three-year history, they have only awarded themselves one medal.’
     • ‘These cultural meets are also fast turning out to be platforms for bringing in tinsel stars, notwithstanding the fact that they have nothing to do with academics.’
     • ‘In fact, a seldom trumpeted trait about the Malayalam film industry has been its rendering a red carpet welcome to its tinsel townhood neighbours!’
     • ‘He still continues to make style statements with his ensemble and not for nothing is he called the well-dressed man of Telugu tinsel ville.’
     • ‘So we could soon see star-struck youngsters learning their study materials directly from tinsel world heroes or heroines.’
     • ‘Meet Sudeep who is making it big in the Kannada tinsel world.’
     • ‘The tinsel celebrity, now the talk of the town, was flying to Coimbatore for a shoot and she stopped off to pick up her boarding pass.’
     • ‘Even seasoned actors and producers find this an appropriate time to launch their sons in tinsel world.’
     • ‘Despite his tinsel heroics, Jeremy wasn't able to overcome his fear and says he won't be doing it again any time soon.’
     • ‘Show business is not paved with gold for the creators of its tinsel towns.’
     • ‘The presence of the legendary tinsel queens has been palpable from day one.’
     • ‘Where are we going to find precedents as an alternative to this tinsel culture.’
     Synonyms

     ostentation, showiness, show, showing off, ostentatiousness, pretentiousness, pretension, vulgarity, conspicuousness, obtrusiveness, display, flamboyance, gaudiness, garishness, tawdriness, meretriciousness, brashness, loudness, extravagance, ornateness, theatricality

     ostentatious, pretentious, showy, conspicuous, obtrusive, flamboyant, gaudy, garish, tawdry, meretricious, trashy, brash, vulgar, loud, extravagant, fancy, ornate, affected, theatrical, overdone, over-elaborate

     View synonyms