embroidery
Americannoun
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the art of working raised and ornamental designs in threads of silk, cotton, gold, silver, or other material, upon any woven fabric, leather, paper, etc., with a needle.
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embroidered work or ornamentation.
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elaboration or embellishment, as in telling a story.
noun
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decorative needlework done usually on loosely woven cloth or canvas, often being a picture or pattern
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elaboration or exaggeration, esp in writing or reporting; embellishment
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of embroidery
1350–1400; Middle English embrouderie needlework on cloth < Middle French embroud ( er ) + Middle English -erie -ery; oi from embroider
Compare meaning
How does embroidery compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Embroidery is the act of decorating a piece of cloth with a stitched design. You may have seen large medieval examples of embroidery hanging on the walls of museums depicting flowers and wild animals and the like. Embroidery also has a common figurative meaning of something deceptive, or an excessive and unnecessary detail designed to mislead, or simply something vain and foolish (see embellishment.) The great American designer Buckminster Fuller summed up this sense of the word nicely: "Tombs are the clothes of the dead and a grave is a plain suit; while an expensive monument is one with embroidery."
Vocabulary lists containing embroidery
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On Trend: Fashionable Words
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Former mill worker Linda McTigue worked in the building when she was 17 years old and worked in a department that made embroidery silk yarn.
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
She hosts monthly arts and crafts workshops including activities like scrapbooking, punch needle embroidery and clay art.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 23, 2026
A growing number of overworked travelers are seeking rejuvenation in retreats and tours that focus on connection and creativity: blockprinting in Finland or India, sewing in England, embroidery in Italy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026
Alavi struggled for months, before being picked along with 25 other women for embroidery training under a programme backed by the UN refugee agency.
From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026
“How well you read me, you witch!” interposed Mr. Rochester: “but what did you find in the veil besides its embroidery? Did you find poison, or a dagger, that you look so mournful now?”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
