Word.ws English Dictionary

cosmetic

UK/kɒzˈmɛtɪk//kɑzˈmɛt.ɪk/

cosmetic adjective: imparting or improving beauty, particularly the beauty of the complexion.

Adjective

cosmetic (comparative more cosmetic, superlative most cosmetic)

  1. Imparting or improving beauty, particularly the beauty of the complexion.
    • a cosmetic preparation
    • Firſt, rob'd in white, the nymph intent adores / With head uncover'd, the coſmetic pow'rs.1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, canto I, page 127
  2. External or superficial; pertaining only to the surface or appearance of something.
    • Fortunately, the damage to the house was mostly cosmetic and a bit of paint covered it nicely.

Noun

cosmetic (plural cosmetics)

  1. Any substances applied to enhance the external color or texture of the skin, e.g. lipstick, eyeshadow, eyeliner.
    • These endocrine disruptors are everywhere: plastics, shampoos, cosmetics, cushions, pesticides, canned foods and A.T.M. receipts. They often aren’t on labels and can be difficult to avoid.2021 February 20, Nicholas Kristof, “What Are Sperm Telling Us?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    Synonyms:
    beauty product, makeup, make-up, product[Appendix:Glossary, slap, war paint
  2. A feature existing only on the surface.
  3. An intangible influence that improves the overall perception of some thing or situation.
    • All depends upon circumstances—anger as much as any thing else. Interest is your only true cosmetic for smoothing the brow.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 217

cosmetic meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

cosmetic in Hindi

कॉस्मेटिक

cosmetic in Tamil

அழகுப் பொருள், அழகுப்படுத்துகின்ற, அழகூட்டுகின்ற, ஒப்பணைப் பொருள், அழகுப்பொருள்

cosmetic in Marathi

कॉस्मेटिक

cosmetic in Urdu

کاسمیٹک, کاسمٹک, کاسمتیک
More languagesFewer languages
cosmetic in Bengali
অঙ্গরাগ
cosmetic in Telugu
కాస్మెటిక్
cosmetic in Malayalam
അഴകുണ്ടാക്കുന്ന, സൗന്ദര്യവർദ്ധകമായ, ശരീരശോഭപ്രദമായ
cosmetic in Kannada
ಪ್ರಸಾಧನ, ಸೌಂದರ್ಯವರ್ಧಕ, ಕಾಂತಿವರ್ಧಕ, ಅಂಗರಾಗ
cosmetic in Punjabi
ਕਾਸਮੈਟਿਕ, ਕੌਸਮੈਟਿਕ
cosmetic in Gujarati
કોસ્મેટિક
cosmetic in Nepali
कस्मेटिक, कोस्मेटिक
cosmetic in Tagalog
kosmetiko
cosmetic in Arabic
تَجْمِيلِيّ tajmīliyy
cosmetic in Vietnamese
mỹ phẩm

Examples of cosmetic in a sentence

  • In automotive design, safety should override lesser factors such as cosmetics and corner-cutting.
  • Organoleptic testing of the cosmetics revealed the presence of lumps in the hand cream.
  • She tubes lipstick in the cosmetics factory.

All 40 example sentences with cosmetic

Synonyms of cosmetic

All synonyms of cosmetic

Forms of cosmetic

Adjective
comparativemore cosmetic
superlativemost cosmetic
Noun
pluralcosmetics

Plural of cosmetic: cosmetics

Origin of cosmetic

From French cosmétique, from Ancient Greek κοσμητική (kosmētikḗ, “the art of dress and ornament”), κοσμητικός (kosmētikós), from κοσμητής (kosmētḗs, “orderer, director, decorator”), from κοσμέω (kosméō, “to order, to arrange, to rule, to adorn, to equip, to dress, to embellish”), from κόσμος (kósmos, “order”). By surface analysis, cosmos + -etic.

Words formed from cosmetic

Phrases with cosmetic

Questions about cosmetic

What does cosmetic mean?
Cosmetic means imparting or improving beauty, particularly the beauty of the complexion.
What is cosmetic in Hindi?
Cosmetic in Hindi is कॉस्मेटिक. See Cosmetic meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is cosmetic?
Cosmetic can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce cosmetic?
Cosmetic is pronounced /kɒzˈmɛtɪk/ (UK).

Words near cosmetic in the dictionary

  1. cosmecology
  2. cosmeses
  3. cosmesis
  4. Cosmeston
  5. cosmet moth
  6. cosmetic
  7. cosmetic dentistry
  8. cosmetic second
  9. cosmetic seconds
  10. cosmetic surgeon
  11. cosmetic surgeons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cosmetic (page history and authors); cosmetic (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cosmetic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cosmetic (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cosmetic (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cosmetic (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cosmetic (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cosmetic (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cosmetic (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cosmetic (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cosmetic (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cosmetic (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cosmetic.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cosmetic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cosmetic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.