Meaning & use
silver-plated
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Covered with a very thin coating of silver over a cheaper metal underneath.
Grammar: Usually not graded, though it can come before a noun or after be: a silver-plated spoon; the spoon is silver-plated.
Patterns
- a silver-plated something
- something is silver-plated
She polished the silver-plated tray until it shone.
The cutlery set is silver-plated, not solid silver.
His silver-plated watch lost its shine after a few years.
Common combinations
- silver-plated cutlery
- We use silver-plated cutlery for special dinners.
- a silver-plated tray
- A silver-plated tray carried the tea.
- silver-plated jewelry
- Silver-plated jewelry can tarnish quickly.
- silver-plated brass
- The candlestick is silver-plated brass.
- a silver-plated trophy
- The winner received a silver-plated trophy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- silvered
- Can mean thinly coated with silver, but also covered with a silvery sheen, as in a mirror.
- silver-coated
- A looser phrase that is less common than silver-plated for household items.
- electroplated
- Describes the process of coating by electricity, not necessarily with silver.
Opposites
Word family
- plate verb
- to cover with a thin layer of metal
- plating noun
- a thin coating of metal
- silver noun
- the precious metal
- gold-plated adjective
- coated with a thin layer of gold
Commonly confused: silver-plated or sterling silver?
silver-plated vs sterling silver
Sterling silver is solid, containing 92.5 percent silver throughout, while silver-plated has only a thin surface layer.
Practice
The spoons were cheap because they were only ___, not solid silver.
Choose one answer.
Silver-plated means thinly coated with silver. Silver-tongued describes persuasive speech, so it does not describe a material.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “silver-plated”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.