Dictionary

chocolate-box en · ADJ

Etymology

From the artwork seen on boxes of chocolates.

Meanings

1. (UK, derogatory) Having a twee picturesqueness.
   • The impressionists showed us something about the world, Cezanne something different, a chocolate-box painting nothing. 1982, Sterling M McMurrin, The Tanner lectures on human values:
   • He painted a chocolate-box picture for the Salon, entered it, was admitted. 1961, Lawrence Hanson, Elisabeth M Lawrence, Impressionism: golden decade:
   • 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, [...]. 2021 October 20, Dr Joseph Brennan, “A key part of our diverse railway heritage”, in RAIL, number 942, page 56:

Forms