embellish

em·bel·lish

 (ĕm-bĕl′ĭsh)

tr.v. em·bel·lished, em·bel·lish·ing, em·bel·lish·es

1. To make beautiful, as by ornamentation; decorate.

2. To add ornamental or fictitious details to: a fanciful account that embellishes the true story.

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[Middle English embelishen, from Old French embellir, embelliss- : en-, causative pref.; see en-¹ + bel, beautiful (from Latin bellus; see deu- in Indo-European roots).]

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em·bel′lish·er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

embellish

(ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ)

vb (tr)

1. to improve or beautify by adding detail or ornament; adorn

2. to make (a story) more interesting by adding detail

3. (Music, other) to provide (a melody, part, etc) with ornaments. See ornament⁵

[C14: from Old French embelir, from bel beautiful, from Latin bellus]

emˈbellisher n

emˈbellishment n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

em•bel•lish

(ɛmˈbɛl ɪʃ)

v.t.

1. to beautify by or as if by ornamentation; adorn.

2. to enhance with elaborative additions.

[1300–50; Middle English < Anglo-French, Middle French embeliss-]

em•bel′lish•er, n.

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

embellish

Past participle: embellished
Gerund: embellishing

Imperative

embellish

embellish

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	embellish - add details to aggrandise, aggrandize, pad, embroider, lard, dramatise, dramatize, blow up glorify - cause to seem more splendid; "You are glorifying a rather mediocre building" exaggerate, hyperbolise, hyperbolize, overstate, amplify, magnify, overdraw - to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth; "tended to romanticize and exaggerate this `gracious Old South' imagery"
	2.	embellish - be beautiful to look at; "Flowers adorned the tables everywhere" deck, decorate, grace, adorn, beautify be - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer" ornament - be an ornament to; "stars ornamented the Christmas tree"
	3.	embellish - make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.; "Decorate the room for the party"; "beautify yourself for the special day" adorn, decorate, grace, ornament, beautify alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue" wreathe - decorate or deck with wreaths; "wreathe the grave site" incrust, encrust, beset - decorate or cover lavishly (as with gems) braid - decorate with braids or ribbons; "braid a collar" broider, embroider - decorate with needlework stick - cover and decorate with objects that pierce the surface; "stick some feathers in the turkey before you serve it" illustrate - supply with illustrations; "illustrate a book with drawings" garland - adorn with bands of flowers or leaves; "They garlanded the statue" fledge, flight - decorate with feathers; "fledge an arrow" bespangle, spangle - decorate with spangles; "the star-spangled banner" foliate - decorate with leaves flag - decorate with flags; "the building was flagged for the holiday" bard, barde, caparison, dress up - put a caparison on; "caparison the horses for the festive occasion" bead - decorate by sewing beads onto; "bead the wedding gown" pipe - trim with piping; "pipe the skirt" applique - sew on as a decoration gild the lily, paint the lily - adorn unnecessarily (something that is already beautiful) vermiculate - decorate with wavy or winding lines smock - embellish by sewing in straight lines crossing each other diagonally; "The folk dancers wore smocked shirts" hang - decorate or furnish with something suspended; "Hang wallpaper" prank - dress or decorate showily or gaudily; "Roses were pranking the lawn" tinsel - adorn with tinsel; "snow flakes tinseled the trees" tart up - decorate in a cheap and flashy way; "the small-town bar was all tarted up" stucco - decorate with stucco work; "stuccoed ceilings" redecorate - redo the decoration of an apartment or house panel - decorate with panels; "panel the walls with wood" bejewel, jewel - adorn or decorate with precious stones; "jeweled dresses" filet, fillet - decorate with a lace of geometric designs scallop - decorate an edge with scallops; "the dress had a scalloped skirt" bedizen - decorate tastelessly dress ship - decorate a ship with flags garnish, trim, dress - decorate (food), as with parsley or other ornamental foods trim - decorate, as with ornaments; "trim the christmas tree"; "trim a shop window" bedeck, bedight, deck - decorate; "deck the halls with holly" festoon - decorate with strings of flowers; "The public buildings were festooned for the holiday" enamel - coat, inlay, or surface with enamel inlay - decorate the surface of by inserting wood, stone, and metal lacquer - coat with lacquer; "A lacquered box from China" begild, engild, gild - decorate with, or as if with, gold leaf or liquid gold illuminate - add embellishments and paintings to (medieval manuscripts) blazon, emblazon - decorate with heraldic arms emblazon, colour, color - decorate with colors; "color the walls with paint in warm tones" fringe - adorn with a fringe; "The weaver fringed the scarf" fret - decorate with an interlaced design landscape - embellish with plants; "Let's landscape the yard" ornament - be an ornament to; "stars ornamented the Christmas tree"
	4.	embellish - make more beautiful beautify, fancify, prettify neaten, groom - care for one's external appearance; "He is always well-groomed" groom, curry, dress - give a neat appearance to; "groom the dogs"; "dress the horses" ameliorate, improve, meliorate, amend, better - to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes" window-dress, dress up - make something appear superficially attractive; "The researcher tried to dress up the uninteresting data"; "Don't try to dress up the unpleasant truth" slick up, smarten up, spiff up, spruce, spruce up, titivate, tittivate - make neat, smart, or trim; "Spruce up your house for Spring"; "titivate the child" polish, smooth, smoothen, shine - make (a surface) shine; "shine the silver, please"; "polish my shoes" become, suit - enhance the appearance of; "Mourning becomes Electra"; "This behavior doesn't suit you!"

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

embellish

verb

1. decorate, enhance, adorn, dress, grace, deck, trim, dress up, enrich, garnish, ornament, gild, festoon, bedeck, tart up (slang), beautify The boat was embellished with red and blue carvings.

2. elaborate, colour, exaggerate, dress up, embroider, varnish He embellished the story with invented dialogue and extra details.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

embellish

verb

1. To furnish with decorations:

adorn, bedeck, deck (out), decorate, dress (up), garnish, ornament, trim.

2. To endow with beauty and elegance by way of a notable addition:

adorn, beautify, enhance, grace, set off.

The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Translations

يُزَيِّن، يُزَخْرِفيُنَمِّق، يَزيد التّفاصيل للإثارَه

brodere påforskønneudsmykke

ausschmückenschmückenschönenverbrämenverzieren

acicalaradornarembellecer

kaunistella

ornerparerdécorerembellirenjoliver

díszítkiszínezszépít

skreytaskreyta, ÿkja

abbellireornare

pagražinimaspagražintipapuošimas

izgreznotizpušķotizrotāt

verfraaien

prikrášliť

ilginçleştirmeksüslemeksüsleyip püslemek

润色给...添加细节装饰

embellish

[ɪmˈbelɪʃ] VT (= decorate) → embellecer (with con) (fig) [+ story, truth] → adornar (with con)

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

embellish

[ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ] vt

(= exaggerate) [+ story, account] → enjoliver

(= decorate) → décorer, enjoliver
to be embellished with → être décoré(e) de

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

embellish

vt (= adorn) → schmücken, verschönern; (fig) tale, account → ausschmücken; truth → beschönigen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

embellish

[ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ] vt to embellish (with) (decorate) → abbellire (con) (fig) (story, truth) → infiorettare (con)

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

embellish

(imˈbeliʃ) verb

1. to increase the interest of (a story etc) by adding (untrue) details. The soldier embellished the story of his escape. verfraai يُنَمِّق، يَزيد التّفاصيل للإثارَه разкрасявам enfeitar přikrášlit ausschmücken pynte på; brodere på διανθίζω, ωραιοποιώadornar ilustama آب و تاب دادن؛ دستکاری کردن koristella enjoliver לְיַפּוֹת संवारना uljepšati kiszínez (elbeszélést) menambah-nambahi skreyta, ÿkja abbellire じゅん色する 재미있게 꾸미다 pagražinti izpušķot (stāstījumu) menokok tambah verfraaienforskjønne, pynte på upiększyć سينګارول، مصور كول enfeitar a romanţa приукрашивать prikrášliť olepšati ulepšati försköna, bätttra på เพิ่มรายละเอียด ilginçleştirmek, süsleyip püslemek 渲染(故事等) прикрашати حاشیہ آرائی کرنا thêm thắt 给（叙事、文章）添加细节，润色

2. to make beautiful with ornaments etc. uniform embellished with gold braid. opsier, mooi maak يُزَيِّن، يُزَخْرِف украсявам embelezado ozdobit verzieren udsmykke; forskønne στολίζωembellecer, adornar kaunistama تزئین کردن؛ آراستن koristella orner (de) לְקָשֶט सजाना-संवारना ukrasiti díszít memperindah skreyta ornare 飾る 장식하다 papuošti izrotāt; izgreznot memperindah verfraaien pynte opp, utsmykkeozdobić, upiększyć سينګارول embelezado a împodobi (cu) украшать ozdobiť okrasiti ukrasiti smycka, pryda ประดับ süslemek 裝飾 прикрашати تزئین کرنا tô điểm 装饰

emˈbellishment noun

verfraaiing, opsiering تَزْيين، زَخْرَفَه، تَنْميق украсяване embelezamento ozdoba die Verschönerung, die Ausschmückung udsmykning διακοσμητικό στοιχείο, ωραιοποίηση adorno kaunistus تزئین؛ آب و تاب koristus ornement יפוי, קישוט सजावट uljepšanje (fel)díszítés hiasan skraut; skreytni, ÿkjur abbellimento, ornamento 飾り 장식 pagražinimas, papuošimas (stāstījuma) izpušķojums; rotājums; izgreznojums penghiasan verfraaiingforskjønnelse, utsmykking upiększenie سينګار، سينګارونه embelezamento ornament приукрашивание; украшение ozdoba okras(itev) ulepšanje förskönande, utsmyckande การเพิ่มการตกแต่ง süsleme 渲染，裝飾 прикрашання تزئین sự thêm thắt; tô điểm 装饰，润色

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