Gewgaw

//ˈɡuɡɔ// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A showy trifle, a toy; a showy trinket, ornament or decoration.

    "A heavy gewgaw called a crown."

  2. 2
    cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Showy; unreal; pretentious. not-comparable

    "The rattle of a globe to play withal, This gewgaw world, and put him cheaply off;"

Synonyms

All synonyms
a continentala cursea damna darna hootagate

Example

More examples

"It was a Saxon ornament. […] Some Puritan, before his departure, may have thought himself doing God service by filching the old golden gewgaw."

Etymology

From earlier gugaw, gygaw, from Middle English givegove (“gewgaw, trifle”), a reduplication of Middle English give, geove (“gift”), from Old English giefu, geofu, geafu (“gift”), from Proto-Germanic *gebō (“gift”). Compare Icelandic gyligjöf (“showy gifts, gewgaw”). More at give.

Related phrases

Jew's harp

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