gossamery

English

Etymology

gossamer +‎ -y

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒsəməɹi/

Adjective

gossamery (comparative more gossamery, superlative most gossamery)

1. Like gossamer; flimsy.
   • 1846 April, Thomas De Quincey, “John Keats”, in Sketches: Critical and Biographic (De Quincey’s Works; VI), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 283:

     The Italian poet, [Giambattista] Marino, had been reputed the greatest master of gossamery affectation in Europe.

   • 1916, Jackson Gregory, If the Shoe Fits, Chapter 3:

     She fluttered about him with her hair down in a thick brown braid across each shoulder, and in a gossamery, filmy, lacy “thing”—she had flung her gay-colored cloak upon a chair—that he was very much afraid was not quite a proper thing to wear before a young gentleman whom she had just met.

References

• “gossamery”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.