tinseled

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tin·sel

(tĭn′səl)

1. Very thin sheets, strips, or threads of a glittering material used as a decoration.

2. Something sparkling or showy but basically valueless: the tinsel of parties and promotional events.

adj.

1. Made of or decorated with tinsel.

2. Gaudy, showy, and basically valueless.

tr.v. tin·seled, tin·sel·ing, tin·sels or tin·selled or tin·sel·ling

1. To decorate with or as if with tinsel: tinsel a Christmas tree.

2. To give a false sparkle to.

[Middle English tineseile, from Old French estincelle, spangle, spark; see stencil.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Adj.

tinseled - glittering with gold or silver

clinquant, tinselly

adorned, decorated - provided with something intended to increase its beauty or distinction

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This miniature theater was not much bigger than a man's coffin stood on end; the upper part was open and displayed a tinseled parlor--a good-sized handkerchief would have answered for a drop-curtain; the footlights consisted of a couple of candle-ends an inch long; various manikins the size of dolls appeared on the stage and made long speeches at each other, gesticulating a good deal, and they generally had a fight before they got through.