tinsel

tinsel
    n 1: a showy decoration that is basically valueless; "all the
         tinsel of self-promotion"
    2: a thread with glittering metal foil attached
    v 1: impart a cheap brightness to; "his tinseled image of
         Hollywood"
    2: adorn with tinsel; "snow flakes tinseled the trees"
    3: interweave with tinsel; "tinseled velvet"
    

Tinsel \Tin"sel\, a.
   Showy to excess; gaudy; specious; superficial. "Tinsel
   trappings." --Milton.
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Tinsel \Tin"sel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Tinseled}or {Tinselled};
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Tinseling} or {Tinselling}.]
   To adorn with tinsel; to deck out with cheap but showy
   ornaments; to make gaudy.
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         She, tinseled o'er in robes of varying hues. --Pope.
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Tinsel \Tin"sel\, n. [F. ['e]tincelle a spark, OF. estincelle,
   L. scintilla. Cf. {Scintillate}, {Stencil}.]
   1. 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.
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            Who can discern the tinsel from the gold? --Dryden.
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   2. Something shining and gaudy; something superficially
      shining and showy, or having a false luster, and more gay
      than valuable.
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            O happy peasant! O unhappy bard!
            His the mere tinsel, hers the rich reward. --Cowper.
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152 Moby Thesaurus words for "tinsel":
      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