par·a·pher·na·lia

[par-uh-fer-neyl-yuh, -fuh-neyl-]
noun
1.
( sometimes used with a singular verb ) equipment, apparatus, or furnishing used in or necessary for a particular activity: a skier's paraphernalia.
2.
( used with a plural verb ) personal belongings.
3.
( used with a singular verb ) Law. the personal articles, apart from dower, reserved by law to a married woman.

Origin:
1470–80; < Medieval Latin paraphernālia (bona) a bride's goods, beyond her dowry, equivalent to Late Latin paraphern(a) a bride's property (< Greek parápherna, equivalent to para- para-1 + phern() dowry, derivative of phérein to bear1 + -a neuter plural noun suffix) + Latin -ālia, noun use of neuter plural of -ālis -al1

par·a·pher·na·lian, par·a·pher·nal [par-uh-fur-nl] , adjective


1. appointments, appurtenances, accouterments, trappings. 2. effects.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To paraphernalia
00:10
Paraphernalia is a GRE word you need to know.
So is paralysis. Does it mean:
loss or damage of movement ability
a restatement of a text or passage giving the meaning in another form, as for clearness; rewording.
Collins
World English Dictionary
paraphernalia (ˌpærəfəˈneɪlɪə) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
pl n
1.  miscellaneous articles or equipment
2.  law (formerly) articles of personal property given to a married woman by her husband before or during marriage and regarded in law as her possessions over which she has some measure of control
 
[C17: via Medieval Latin from Latin parapherna personal property of a married woman, apart from her dowry, from Greek, from para-1 + phernē dowry, from pherein to carry]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

paraphernalia
1651, "a woman's property besides her dowry," from M.L. paraphernalia (short for paraphernalia bona "paraphernal goods"), neut. pl. of paraphernalis (adj.), from L.L. parapherna "a woman's property besides her dowry," from Gk. parapherna, neut. pl., from para- "beside" + pherne "dowry," related to pherein
"to carry" (see infer). Meaning "equipment, apparatus" is first attested 1791, from notion of odds and ends.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Example sentences
There are stories about them wearing water-related paraphernalia such as shower
  hoses and drain plugs as protective talismans.
She is afraid of the paraphernalia of family living.
When she started noticing discarded baby paraphernalia piling up in her home,
  she searched the Web for a way to de-clutter.
Weapons, telephone cloning paraphernalia, and bullet-resistant vests.
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT