frippery

[ frip-uh-ree ]

noun

, plural frip·per·ies.

1. finery in dress, especially when showy, gaudy, or the like.
2. empty display; ostentation.
3. gewgaws; trifles.

frippery

/ ˈfrɪpərɪ /

noun

1. ornate or showy clothing or adornment
2. showiness; ostentation
3. unimportant considerations; trifles; trivia

Word History and Origins

Origin of frippery¹

1560–70; < French friperie, Old French freperie, equivalent to frepe rag + -erie -ery

Word History and Origins

Origin of frippery¹

C16: from Old French freperie , from frepe frill, rag, old garment, from Medieval Latin faluppa a straw, splinter, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

The more stylized approaches of traditional “Streetcar” revivals aren’t just frippery.

From Los Angeles Times

Belafonte turned the famous into folks, mixing the frippery of the format with the gravitas of the moment.

From New York Times

The sums of money being blown on fripperies are staggering.

From Washington Post

It doesn’t much go in for fripperies like character and narrative and sense.

From New York Times

Like even the lousiest Regency-era frippery, it has its intermittent pleasures, most of them visual.

From Los Angeles Times