Adjacent Words

Embellish definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EMBEL'LISH, v.t. [L. bellus, pretty.]
1. To adorn; to beautify; to decorate; to make beautiful or elegant by ornaments; applied to persons or things. We embellish the person with rich apparel, a garden with shrubs and flowers, and style with metaphors.
2. To make graceful or elegant; as, to embellish manners.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: add details to [syn: embroider, pad, lard, embellish, aggrandize, aggrandise, blow up, dramatize, dramatise]
2: be beautiful to look at; "Flowers adorned the tables everywhere" [syn: deck, adorn, decorate, grace, embellish, beautify]
3: make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.; "Decorate the room for the party"; "beautify yourself for the special day" [syn: decorate, adorn, grace, ornament, embellish, beautify]
4: make more beautiful [syn: fancify, beautify, embellish, prettify] [ant: uglify]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French embeliss-, stem of embelir, from en- + bel beautiful — more at beauty Date: 14th century 1. to make beautiful with ornamentation ; decorate <a book embellished with illustrations> 2. to heighten the attractiveness of by adding decorative or fanciful details ; enhance <embellished our account of the trip> Synonyms: see adorn • embellisher noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 beautify, adorn. 2 add interest to (a narrative) with fictitious additions. Derivatives: embellisher n. embellishment n. Etymology: ME f. OF embellir (as EN-(1), bel handsome f. L bellus)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Embellish Em*bel"lish, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Embellished; p. pr. & vb. n. Embellishing.] [OE. embelisen, embelisshen, F. embellir; pref. em- (L. in) + bel, beau, beautiful. See Beauty.] To make beautiful or elegant by ornaments; to decorate; to adorn; as, to embellish a book with pictures, a garden with shrubs and flowers, a narrative with striking anecdotes, or style with metaphors. Syn: To adorn; beautify; deck; bedeck; decorate; garnish; enrich; ornament; illustrate. See Adorn.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(embellishes, embellishing, embellished) 1. If something is embellished with decorative features or patterns, it has those features or patterns on it and they make it look more attractive. The stern was embellished with carvings in red and blue... Ivy leaves embellish the front of the dresser... VERB: be V-ed with n, V n 2. If you embellish a story, you make it more interesting by adding details which may be untrue. I launched into the parable, embellishing the story with invented dialogue and extra details... Irving popularized the story in a dramatic and embellished account. VERB: V n, V-ed

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Decorate, deck, bedeck, ornament, adorn, beautify, set out, set off.

Moby Thesaurus

adorn, apparel, array, beautify, bedeck, bedizen, belie, blazon, camouflage, caparison, color, convolute, cultivate, dandify, deck, deck out, decorate, develop, disguise, distort, dizen, doll up, dress, dress up, elaborate, emblazon, embroider, enhance, enrich, evolve, exaggerate, falsify, festoon, fig out, finish, fix up, flourish, fudge, furbish, furbish up, garble, garnish, gild, gild the lily, gloss, gloss over, grace, gussy up, improve, involve, load with ornament, magnify, mask, mature, miscite, miscolor, misquote, misreport, misrepresent, misstate, ornament, overcharge, overdo, overdraw, overlay, overload, overpaint, overstate, pad, paint, perfect, pervert, polish, prank, prank up, preen, prettify, primp, primp up, prink, prink up, redecorate, redo, refine, refurbish, ripen, season, set off, set out, slant, smarten, smarten up, spruce up, strain, titivate, trick out, trick up, trim, twist, understate, varnish, warp, whitewash