Tawdry vs Tinsel - What's the difference?
tawdry | tinsel | Related terms |
Cheap and gaudy; showy.
* 1823 , , Quentin Durward , ch. 33:
* 1917 , , Calvary Alley , ch. 20:
Unseemly, base, shameful.
* 1918 , , The Forty-Niners , ch. 1:
* 1920 , , The Great Impersonation , ch. 16:
* 2008 August 9, Clemente Lisi, "
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.
* :
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=Foreword Very thin strips of a glittering, metallic material used as a decoration, and traditionally, draped at Christmas time over streamers, paper chains and the branches of Christmas trees.
Anything shining and gaudy; something superficially shining and showy, or having a false luster, and more gay than valuable.
* :
Glittering, later especially superficially so; gaudy, showy.
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.1:
To adorn with tinsel; to deck out with cheap but showy ornaments; to make gaudy.
* :
(figuratively) To give a false sparkle to (something).
Tawdry is a related term of tinsel.
As adjectives the difference between tawdry and tinsel
is that tawdry is cheap and gaudy; showy while tinsel is glittering, later especially superficially so; gaudy, showy.As a noun tinsel is
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.As a verb tinsel is
to adorn with tinsel; to deck out with cheap but showy ornaments; to make gaudy.tawdry
English
Adjective
(er)- The rest of his dress—a dress always sufficiently tawdry —was overcharged with lace, embroidery, and ornament of every kind, and the plume of feathers which he wore was so high, as if intended to sweep the roof of the hall.
- It was all cheap and incredibly tawdry , from the festoons of paper roses on the walls to the flash of paste jewels in make-believe crowns.
- [T]he "greaser" was a dirty, idle, shiftless, treacherous, tawdry vagabond, dwelling in a disgracefully primitive house, and backward in every aspect of civilization.
- The woman's passion by his side seemed suddenly tawdry and unreal, the seeking of her lips for his something horrible.
Lusty Lies of Don Juan John," New York Post (retrieved 16 Dec 2013):
- After months of flat-out lying to the public, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally copped to having a sleazy extramarital fling. . . . The tawdry affair has dogged Edwards over the past few months.
Synonyms
* See * sordidReferences
*tinsel
English
Noun
(-)- Who can discern the tinsel from the gold?
citation, passage=He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.}}
- O happy peasant! O unhappy bard! His the mere tinsel , hers the rich reward.
Adjective
(en adjective)- Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold, / And all her steed with tinsell trappings shone [...].
Verb
- She, tinseled o'er in robes of varying hues.