paraphernalia
Syllables: par·a·pher·na·liaUK/ˌpæɹəfəˈneɪli.ə//ˌpɛɹəfɚˈneɪli.ə/
paraphernalia noun: miscellaneous items, especially the set of equipment required for a particular activity.
Noun
paraphernalia pl (plural only)
- Miscellaneous items, especially the set of equipment required for a particular activity.
- drug paraphernalia
- He has an impressive collection of bicycling paraphernalia, but he doesn't ride very often anymore.
- Objects that a married woman owns, such as clothing and jewellery, apart from her dowry.
- So she told her what her husband had said and sat with her awhile; but, presently, up came porters, who brought all her clothes and paraphernalia and what not else belonged to her of goods and vessels from her husband’s house and deposited them in that of her mother.1901, Unknown, “The House with the Belvedere”, in John Payne, transl., The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, volume 5
- Synonyms:
- parapherna, paraphernals
paraphernalia meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
paraphernalia in Hindi
- miscellaneous items
- सामग्री sāmagrī, सामान sāmān
paraphernalia in Tamil
- எடுபிடிகள், ஏவல் செய்வோர், பரிவாரம், ஐம்பரி வட்டணை யகத்தில் வாழுயிர்க்கு, சத்திர சாமர முதலிய பரிவட்டணைகளோடு
paraphernalia in Marathi
- miscellaneous items
- सामग्री sāmagrī, सामान sāmān
paraphernalia in Urdu
- سازوسامان
More languagesFewer languages
- paraphernalia in Bengali
- বিভিন্ন সরঞ্জাম, জিনিসপত্র
- paraphernalia in Malayalam
- മെയ്യാഭരണം, സ്ത്രീസ്വത്ത്, രാജചിഹ്നങ്ങൾ
- paraphernalia in Kannada
- ಸಜ್ಜು, ಸಾಮಾನು ಸರಂಜಾಮು, ಪರಿಕರ ಸಂಭಾರ, ಸಾಧನ ಸಾಮಗ್ರಿ
- paraphernalia in Punjabi
- ਸਮੱਗਰੀ samaggarī, ਸਾਮਾਨ sāmān
- paraphernalia in Gujarati
- અસબાબ asabāb
- paraphernalia in Odia
- ସମାଗ୍ରୀ samāgri
- paraphernalia in Sanskrit
- सामग्री sāmagrī
Examples of paraphernalia in a sentence
- They decked the bar out with World Cup paraphernalia for June and July.
- The entrancement of a child by the bright lights and other paraphernalia of a pantomime is a magical sight.
- We have more boxes of books and paraphernalia than I would have thought possible.
Synonyms of paraphernalia
Origin of paraphernalia
Borrowed from Medieval Latin paraphernālia (“goods which a wife brings over and above her dowry”), use as noun (short for paraphernālia bona (“paraphernal goods”)) of neuter plural of paraphernālis, from Late Latin parapherna + Latin -ālis (suffix forming adjectives), from Ancient Greek παράφερνα (parápherna), a compound of παρά (pará, “beside”) + φερνή (phernḗ, “dowry”). In the propertied classes, a dowry was placed under the control of the husband, while the paraphernalia which she brought with her remained the wife’s property.
Words formed from paraphernalia
Words that rhyme with paraphernalia
- regalia
- Australia
- echolalia
- Pharsalia
- femalia
- genitalia
- glossolalia
- penetralia
- azalea
- dahlia
- Lincolnalia
- Lupercalia
3 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about paraphernalia
- What does paraphernalia mean?
- Paraphernalia means miscellaneous items, especially the set of equipment required for a particular activity.
- What is paraphernalia in Hindi?
- Paraphernalia in Hindi is सामग्री (sāmagrī), सामान (sāmān). See Paraphernalia meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is paraphernalia?
- Paraphernalia is a noun.
- How do you pronounce paraphernalia?
- Paraphernalia is pronounced /ˌpæɹəfəˈneɪli.ə/ (UK).
Words near paraphernalia in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: paraphernalia (page history and authors); paraphernalia (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paraphernalia (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paraphernalia (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paraphernalia (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paraphernalia (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); અસબાબ (Gujarati) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-paraphernalia.ogg.
Cite this entry: “paraphernalia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paraphernalia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.