cos·met·ic

(kŏz-mĕt′ĭk)

1. A preparation, such as powder or a skin cream, designed to beautify the body by direct application.

2. Something superficial that is used to cover a deficiency or defect.

adj.

1. Serving to beautify the body, especially the face and hair.

2. Serving to modify or improve the appearance of a bodily feature, defect, or irregularity: cosmetic therapy.

a. Decorative rather than functional: cosmetic fenders on cars.

b. Lacking depth or significance; superficial: made a few cosmetic changes when she took over the company.

[French cosmétique, from Greek kosmētikos, skilled in arranging, from kosmētos, well-ordered, from kosmein, to arrange, from kosmos, order.]

cos·met′i·cal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adv.

cosmetically - for cosmetic purposes to improve appearance; "it is used cosmetically by many women"

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References in periodicals archive

The effect is so cosmetically discreet that no one will guess you are actually wearing a hearing aid.

Brilliant! The glasses that give you much clearer hearing too! With nothing in either ear - your existing glasses can now easily double as high performance hearing aids and no one will know!

Barile of Willowick, OH, has patented a method for cosmetically disguising an unattractive finger or toe nail area of a negatively affected hand or foot by using a temporary, cosmetically appealing covering.

Cosmetic nail covering

Boomers want to be forever young and work to maintain that youthful lifestyle through medicine either holistically or cosmetically. They keep doing activities that require medical maintenance or are involved in activities that require more medical backup.

Forever young?

As long as this kind of hemangioma is not on a cosmetically critical area, parents can often just leave these alone until they scar down and become less noticeable.

Hemangiona

Surgeon Gursharan Chana said: "The new treatment is not only cosmetically pleasing to the patient but afford extensive benefits including minimal blood loss, quicker mobilisation post surgery and less pain.

Tiny progress for hip replacement patients; LITTLE ASTON

"And if I can't do that myself I shall throw money at it," the cosmetically rejuvenated 62 years-old has announced.

ANNE STILL SNEERING

Okay, the stadium was old but I'm sure that cosmetically it could have been smartened up which would have cost quite a few thousands but not millions of pounds, as the Ricoh Stadium was to cost.

Letter: Your Say - Ricoh a wrong move for City

Cosmetically, it's difficult to notice the difference.

Carry melt

"We've upgraded it feature-wise and cosmetically," said Ed Christman, VP/marketing for Cramer.

Physical therapy: streamlined sports medicine products for the ailing athlete

Paradise Street was not cosmetically perfect, and may have been a little inadequate for the amount of buses using it, but you could "change" buses.

You say: All change