papier-mâché

[ pey-per-muh-shey, -ma-; French pa-pyey-mah-shey ]

noun

1. a substance made of pulped paper or paper pulp mixed with glue and other materials or of layers of paper glued and pressed together, molded when moist to form various articles, and becoming hard and strong when dry.

adjective

1. made of papier-mâché.
2. easily destroyed or discredited; false, pretentious, or illusory:

   a papier-mâché façade of friendship.

papier-mâché

/ ˌpæpjeɪˈmæʃeɪ; papjemɑʃe /

noun

1. a hard strong substance suitable for painting on, made of paper pulp or layers of paper mixed with paste, size, etc, and moulded when moist

adjective

1. made of papier-mâché

Word History and Origins

Origin of papier-mâché¹

1745–55; < French: literally, “chewed paper”

Word History and Origins

Origin of papier-mâché¹

C18: from French, literally: chewed paper

Example Sentences

In fact, Yoskay Yamamoto, whose serene papier-mâché and wood installation “Moonage Daydream” sits at the exhibition’s center, said he met his wife at GR2 in 2017, proposed to her at the gallery five years later and enlisted Nakamura to officiate at their wedding last year.

From Los Angeles Times

Above us were giant papier-mâché heads of alebrijes — colorful Mexican folk art figurines — used at LA Librería’s recent appearance at the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times

Her first intervention was to style the windows, which she thought were boring, adding mannequins and whimsical objects like papier-mâché dogs.

From New York Times

When Dav Pilkey came to town, Pettid and Cowdin welcomed him by making a three-and-a-half foot papier-mâché Captain Underpants.

From New York Times

Eventually they hired 39 staff members, including 21 full-time artists and fabricators who made everything in the museum from some combination of steel, wood, foam, concrete and papier-mâché.

From New York Times