brummagem
brummagem adjective: cheap and showy; meretricious. Also the alternative form of Brummagem.
Adjective (1)
brummagem (not comparable)
- Cheap and showy; meretricious.
- The unhappy man (who had cheated the sailors), innocent of danger, is seated on a grating with his combs, spy-glasses, necklaces, ribbons, and all the rest of his "Brummagem" trumpery, spread out before him.1893, Graham Everitt, English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century, page 175
- "My, my, my, my, my," said a voice from behind them, and the Baudelaire orphans turned to find Stephano standing there,...a look of brummagem surprise on his face. "Brummagem" is such a rare word for "fake" that even Klaus didn't know what it meant, but the children did not have to be told that...1999, Lemony Snicket, The Reptile Room
Proper noun capitalized: Brummagem
Brummagem
- Synonym of Birmingham
- Synonyms:
- Birmingham
Noun capitalized: Brummagem
Brummagem (plural Brummagems)
- A person from Birmingham.
- Synonyms:
- Brummie
- A counterfeit coin.
Adjective (2) capitalized: Brummagem
Brummagem (not comparable)
- Alternative letter-case form of brummagem (“cheap and showy”).
- He was “great” (as he expressed it) with the Bloomer who kept the bar where their club was held, and whom he styled “a spiffy girl,” and who had been graciously pleased to accept of a pair of very Brummagem-looking earrings, set with paste diamonds, with which he had presented her.1852, “How Jeremiah Tubbs became engaged in the Irish elections of 1852”, in New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, page 66
Also used as
brummagem is also the alternative form of Brummagem.
Synonyms of brummagem
Forms of brummagem
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Brummajem |
| Noun | |
| plural | brummagems |
| plural | Brummagems |
Origin of brummagem
From Birmingham, England where cheap manufactured goods used to be produced.
Variant of Birmingham showing metathesis of the first two consonants, as well as affrication of /ɡ/ and elision of /n/.
Words formed from brummagem
Questions about brummagem
- What does brummagem mean?
- Brummagem means cheap and showy; meretricious.
- What part of speech is brummagem?
- Brummagem can be an adjective, a proper noun or a noun.
Words near brummagem in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brummagem (page history and authors); Brummagem (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “brummagem.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brummagem. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.