Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Glittering with gold or tinsel.
- noun Imitation gold leaf; tinsel; glitter.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Yellow copper; Dutch gold; a showy, cheap alloy.
- noun Tinsel; false glitter.
- Decked with garish finery; glittering; flashy. Also
clinkant .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Glittering; dressed in, or overlaid with, tinsel finery.
- noun Tinsel; Dutch gold.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
glittery - noun
Dutch metal
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective glittering with gold or silver
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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SNAIL'S TALES: An occasion for a clinquant celebration skip to main
An occasion for a clinquant celebration AYDIN 2008
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Beaming, the lady held out a purse, heavy and all clinquant, as the man says, with gold.
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I liked Jack, but not clinquant in crimson and gold, with spurs and sword clanking on the hard, frost-bitten road.
The Yeoman Adventurer George W. Gough
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Pour ne parler que de celui de mon personnage, le site se veut clinquant, vendeur, imitant
Entretiens / Interviews / Entrevistas Marie Lebert
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The clinquant corslet of the Swiss girl just survives at bals costumés.
The Works of Max Beerbohm Max Beerbohm 1914
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My eyes rejoice in the shine of it; its clinquant sound is music in my ears.
Trivia Logan Pearsall Smith 1907
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One cannot help asking one's self, diffidently indeed, but pertinaciously, are not the ornaments too clinquant, do not the decorations assert themselves too presumptuously and mar the softer and more harmonious colors of the groundwork?
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[22] I must entirely agree with Monsieur Boileau, that one verse of Vergil is worth all the _clinquant _or tinsel of Tasso.
A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century 1886
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The General and the generals went in and crowded the hall of audience, very clinquant with its black and white floor, glass chandeliers, long mirrors and single gilded center table.
The Surrender of Santiago An Account of the Historic Surrender of Santiago to General Shafter, July 17, 1898 Frank Norris 1886
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"Pardon, Monsieur, in every age a love-story keeps its interest; but who cares nowadays for le clinquant du Tasse?"
The Parisians — Volume 03 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838
she commented on the word clinquant
(From French clinquant clinking, tinkling, pr. pple. of obs. v. clinquer, adopted from Dutch klinken to clink, ring.)
August 6, 2008
malechi commented on the word clinquant
Glittering, but usually in a false or cheap way, like tinsel
"No, there are too many of these fine sparks you talk of who perhaps may be very clinquant, slight, and bright and make a very pretty show at first, but the tinsel-gentlemen do so tarnish in the wearing, there's no enduring them."
--Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso
I once had a cat that liked to eat the tinsel (of the "icicle" type) off the Christmas tree. Maybe he had an iron deficiency. Anyway, he always threw it up later, in a sort of shiny hairball, which was both pretty from a distance and disgusting close up -- like many things, I guess.
December 8, 2008
bilby commented on the word clinquant
Excellent story Malechi.
December 8, 2008
jmjarmstrong commented on the word clinquant
JM made a clinquant clanger the other day - as meretricious as it was showy.
October 5, 2010
mtc commented on the word clinquant
Bling and "blingant."
December 24, 2012
qms commented on the word clinquant
Ludmila’s taste lapses are frequent,
Her judgment amiss or delinquent.
For drama’s effect
She’s tinsel bedecked
And enters all slinkily clinquant.
March 13, 2018