Tinsel

Noun

 * 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.
 * 2) * John Dryden:
 * Who can discern the tinsel from the gold?
 * 1) Very thin strips of a glittering, metallic material used as a decoration, and traditionally, draped at Christmas time over streamers, paper chains and the branches of Christmas trees.
 * 2) Anything shining and gaudy; something superficially shining and showy, or having a false luster, and more gay than valuable.
 * 3) * William Cowper:
 * O happy peasant! O unhappy bard! His the mere tinsel, hers the rich reward.

Adjective

 * 1) Showy to excess; gaudy; specious; superficial.
 * 2) * John Milton:
 * Tinsel trappings.

Verb

 * 1)  To adorn with tinsel; to deck out with cheap but showy ornaments; to make gaudy.
 * 2) * Alexander Pope:
 * She, tinseled o'er in robes of varying hues.
 * 1)  To give something a false sparkle.

Derived terms

 * tinseled, tinselled
 * tinselly
 * Tinseltown

Thesaurus
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

Etymology
étincelle (“spark”), from estincelle, from  scintilla; compare scintillate, stencil.

Noun

 * German:

Anagrams

 * enlist
 * inlets
 * leints
 * listen
 * silent