Cosmetics

//kɑzˈmɛt.ɪks// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Preparations applied externally to change or enhance the beauty of skin, hair, nails, lips, and eyes. plural, plural-only

    "Near-synonyms: makeup, make-up; beauty products"

  2. 2
    The study of such products. uncountable
  3. 3
    The way something looks; superficial appearance. plural, plural-only

    "Near-synonym: cosmesis"

Example

More examples

"And if we have time, I'd like to take a look at their cosmetics."

Etymology

From French cosmétique, from Ancient Greek κοσμητική (kosmētikḗ, “the art of dress and ornament”), from κοσμητικός (kosmētikós), an adjective of κοσμέω (kosméō, “to order, to arrange, to rule, to adorn, to equip, to dress, to embellish”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.