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  1. frippery love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Pretentious, showy finery.
  2. n. Pretentious elegance; ostentation.
  3. n. Something trivial or nonessential.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Trade or traffic in old clothes.
  2. n. A place where old clothes are sold.
  3. n. Old clothes; cast-off garments; clothing discarded after wearing.
  4. n. Hence Worthless or useless trifles; trumpery; gewgaws.
  5. Trifling; frivolous; contemptible; trumpery.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Ostentation, as in fancy clothing.
  2. n. Useless things; trifles.
  3. n. obsolete Cast-off clothes.
  4. n. obsolete The trade or traffic in old clothes.
  5. n. obsolete The place where old clothes are sold.
  6. n. Hence: secondhand finery; cheap and tawdry decoration; affected elegance.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. obsolete Coast-off clothes.
  2. n. Hence: Secondhand finery; cheap and tawdry decoration; affected elegance.
  3. n. A place where old clothes are sold.
  4. n. The trade or traffic in old clothes.
  5. adj. Trifling; contemptible.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. something of little value or significance

Etymologies

  1. From French friperie. From Old French fripier ("to rub up and down, to wear into rags"). Compare fripper. (Wiktionary)
  2. French friperie, from Old French freperie, old clothes, from felpe, frepe, from Medieval Latin faluppa, worthless material. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Gloves, an Ell or two of Muslin or figured Lawn, and as a little of what you call frippery is very necessary towards looking like the rest of the world, Nabby would have me add, a few yard of Black or”

    Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 1 May 1780

  • “In San Francisco, Tim meets Jay, calls his frippery-based collection the equivalent of”

    Queer Sighted

  • “Ignore the insanely complex and expensive parallelogram-hinged door frippery, which is strictly concept; the car does provide some design clues.”

    Advance auto zone blog about fast cars and auto trader

  • “Miss Roberts never could stand what she called 'frippery' in dress or hair style.”

    Summer Term At St Clare's

  • “The three gorgeously caparisoned chamberlains, who had inducted me to the shelter, laid before me changes of raiment bedecked with every imaginable kind of frippery, and would have me transform myself into a popinjay in fashion like their own.”

    The Lost Continent

  • “All this kind of frippery smacks of the boarding school, the pirouette, and the dancing master, and is out of character for the farm, or the sensible retirement of the country.”

    Rural Architecture Being a Complete Description of Farm Houses, Cottages, and Out Buildings

  • “Joe's favorite word is "frippery," which he likes because it sounds funny and not because he's found a way to work it into conversation.”

    IndyStar.com Top Stories

  • “There's a solid, if unremarkable racing game buried underneath all this pointless frippery and camera-wobbling, but it's one that fails to provide either the dogged authenticity of Gran Turismo 5 or the balls-to-the-wall rush of Blur or Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit.”

    The Guardian: This week's new games

  • “But such frippery doesn't seem to sink to the level of even a Dis-Honorable Mention, in our humble opinion.”

    The Huffington Post: Chris Weigant: Friday Talking Points -- Budget Standoff Continues

  • “Cars like the Subaru Impreza WRX and Mazda's hatchbacks are loved for their rough-and-tumble rally personalities, not for interior frippery or extra design cues.”

    Forbes: The Fastest Cars Under $30,000

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synonyms (4)

Words with the same meaning

  1. trifling
  1. contemptible
  1. finery
  1. showy

hypernyms (4)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. triviality
  1. trivia
  1. small beer
  1. trifle

same context (18)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. trinket
  2. finery
  3. triviality
  1. tinsel
  2. accouterments
  3. trappings
  1. gimcrack
  2. foppery
  3. pinchbeck
  1. adornment
  2. flummery
  3. bric-a-brac
  1. gewgaw
  2. tomfoolery
  3. bauble
  1. socialite
  2. adulation
  3. keepsake

reverse dictionary (4)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. pelf
  1. fripper
  1. fal-lals
  1. trapping

tags (2)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. nonsense silliness foolishness
  1. wardrobe

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Lists

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Comments

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  • billyvonraven From OED:
    d. fig. Empty display, esp. in speech or literary composition; showy talk; ostentation. Jun 8, 2009

  • thesaraheffect "WHEREAS For damage caused by lightning, earthquakes, floods, fire, frost or frippery of any sort, kind or condition, consequently the undersigned take responsibility."
    Feb 23, 2009

  • sionnach I've always thought of this as a noun, and not as a legitimate adjective. Nov 14, 2007

  • halcyonwhimsy This can mean a lot, but I like it for describing someone or someone's manners/dress when writing.

    showy; gaudy; nonessential, trivial Oct 2, 2007

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‘frippery’ has been looked up 3714 times, loved by 10 people, added to 80 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 18.