chocolate-box

See also: chocolate box

English

Alternative forms

• chocolate box
• chocolate-boxy
• chocolate boxy

Etymology

From the artwork seen on boxes of chocolates.

Adjective

chocolate-box (comparative more chocolate-box, superlative most chocolate-box)

1. (derogatory) Having a twee picturesqueness.
   • 1961, Lawrence Hanson, Elisabeth M Lawrence, Impressionism: golden decade:

     He painted a chocolate-box picture for the Salon, entered it, was admitted.

   • 1982, Sterling M McMurrin, The Tanner lectures on human values:

     The impressionists showed us something about the world, Cezanne something different, a chocolate-box painting nothing.

   • 2021 October 20, Dr Joseph Brennan, “A key part of our diverse railway heritage”, in RAIL, number 942, page 56:

     I find it difficult to pick a personal favourite from the two, but Wylam wins on the chocolate-box front, framed by an in-keeping (also Grade 2) footbridge just down the line from it, [...].

References

• “chocolate-box”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.