1. (n.) A shining material used for ornamental purposes; especially, a very thin, gauzelike cloth with much gold or silver woven into it; also, very thin metal overlaid with a thin coating of gold or silver, brass foil, or the like.
2. (n.) Something shining and gaudy; something superficially shining and showy, or having a false luster, and more gay than valuable.
3. (a.) Showy to excess; gaudy; specious; superficial.
4. (v. t.) To adorn with tinsel; to deck out with cheap but showy ornaments; to make gaudy.
Thesaurus Entries
affected, apocryphal, apparent, artificial, assumed, bastard, bead, bejewel, beribbon, bespangle, blatant, blink, blinking, bogus, bravery, brazen, brummagem, cheat, chiffon, chintzy, clinquant, colorable, colored, coruscate, coruscation, counterfeit, counterfeited, diamond, distorted, dressed up, dummy, embellished, embroidered, engrave, ersatz, factitious, fake, faked, fakement, falsified, feather, feigned, festoons, fictitious, fictive, figure, filigree, finery, firefly, flag, flashy, flounce, flower, folderol, foofaraw, forgery, frame-up, fraud, frilliness, frilling, frills, frills and furbelows, frippery, froufrou, fuss, gaiety, garbled, garish, garland, gaudery, gem, gilded, gilding, gilt, gingerbread, glaring, glimmer, glimmering, glisk, glisten, glister, glitter, glittering, glowworm, hoax, illegitimate, illuminate, imitation, impostor, jewel, junk, junky, loud, make-believe, man-made, meretricious, mock, ostensible, paint, paste, perverted, phony, pinchbeck, plausible, plume, pretended, pseudo, put-on, put-up job, quasi, queer, ribbon, rip-off, scintilla, scintillate, scintillation, seeming, self-styled, sham, shimmer, shimmering, shoddy, simulacrum, simulated, so-called, soi-disant, spangle, spark, sparkle, specious, spurious, stroboscopic light, superfluity, supposititious, swindle, synthetic, tawdry, tin, titivated, trappings, trickery, trumpery, twinkle, twinkling, twisted, unauthentic, ungenuine, unnatural, unreal, warped, whited sepulcher, wreathe
