Many people tune in to the Academy Awards and other big international events mainly to watch the glitterati — the movie stars and other wealthy celebrities decked out in their glamorous, stunning gowns and tuxedos.
The term glitterati was coined in the 1940s as kind of a mocking word for a new kind of celebrity famous more for a glamorous public image than for any real achievement. The word is a blend of the English word glitter — something that's flashy, sparkly, and dazzling — and a word borrowed from Italian, literati, which refers collectively to an elite, cultured class of academics, artists, and writers. The glitterati, in contrast to the literati, are admired more for their sparkle and glamor than for their intellectual or artistic grandeur.