1. The practice of
conspicuously buying flashy, expensive items and expecting them to fill the voids in one's life.
2. A pejorative used to malign people who enjoy material luxuries, implying that it's impossible for a person do so without having an unhealthy
fixation on them. Usually used as a
sour grapes excuse to hate people who can afford more luxuries than one's self.
1. "Tiffany keeps spending all of her money on expensive designer clothing. When will she realize that it's personality, not consumerism, that wins friends?"
2. "Ugh, did you see
Ted's new BMW with heated leather seats, a GPS
navigation system, and a 6-disk CD
changer? Anyone who would buy luxuries is obviously a disgusingly shallow and materialistic consumerist."