Word to describe "beautiful but worthless"
I have a family member who worked at a cat boarding facility. There, she met a couple who jokingly described their cat as "beautiful but worthless." Is there a word in the English language to describe such a purrradox? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
You could say Mrs. Whiskers is purely ornamental.
For example, Cambridge gives the definition of "ornamental" as precisely "beautiful rather than useful":
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Furthermore, Vocabulary.com lists "non-functional" as the first synonym of "ornamental", and Wikipedia has this to say about ornamental plants:
Ornamental plants are plants which are grown for display purposes, rather than functional ones.
You could also say Princess Pretty Paws is cosmetic, decorative, or even a mere bauble. Just don't do it to her face.
Buried at the end of Dan's answer, without getting a fair shake:
bauble -Google
bau·ble /ˈbôbəl/ noun
- something that is superficially attractive but useless or worthless.
Caryatids are ornamental. Ornate although they are, they're not baubles; the roof of the Erechtheion requires them for support.
It's an obscure word: gewgaw.
From the New Oxford American Dictonary:
a showy thing, especially one that is useless or worthless.
The kitty is purrty.
pretty: (often pejorative) Fine-looking; only superficially attractive; initially appealing but having little substance [Wiktionary]