embellish
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to improve or beautify by adding detail or ornament; adorn
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to make (a story) more interesting by adding detail
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to provide (a melody, part, etc) with ornaments See ornament
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overembellishverb (used with object)
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reembellishverb (used with object)
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embellishmentnoun
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embellishernoun
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nonembellishingadjective
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nonembellishedadjective
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unembellishedadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have embellishedperfect
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has embellishedperfect 3rd person singular
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is embellishingprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been embellishingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am embellishingprogressive 1st person singular
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are embellishingprogressive
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embellishessingular 3rd person
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have been embellishingperfect progressive
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embellishingparticiple
Past
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had embellishedperfect
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was embellishingprogressive singular
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were embellishingprogressive plural
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had been embellishingperfect progressive
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embellishedparticiple
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embellishedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of embellish
1300–50; Middle English embelisshen < Anglo-French, Middle French embeliss- (stem of embelir ), equivalent to em- em- 1 + bel- (< Latin bellus pretty) + -iss- -ish 2
Explanation
The word "bell" shows up in the middle of embellish, and bells are something that decorate, or embellish something, making it more attractive. If you embellish speech, though, it can get ugly if you add a lot of details that aren't true. Embellish often has the positive meaning of adding something to make it more handsome or beautifully decorated. But, while adding bells to something looks great at first, after a couple of hours of bells ringing in the ears, what was meant to embellish and beautify can get annoying. That's what can happen when you embellish by adding too many false or exaggerated details to a story. Embellishing with true, colorful details and vivid descriptions is what can really enhance the beauty of a story.
Vocabulary lists containing embellish
List 5
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "E"
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The Fault in Our Stars
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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.
Embellish gifts with Christmas ornaments that coordinate with your decor.
From Southern Living • Nov. 19, 2010
No Need To Embellish One thing visitors notice straightaway is that there�s no landscaping.
From Time Magazine Archive
Yclad in Scarlot, like a mayden Queene, And ermines white: Upon her head a Cremosin coronet, With Damaske roses and Daffadillies set: Bay leaves betweene, And primroses greene, Embellish the sweete Violet.
From Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama A Literary Inquiry, with Special Reference to the Pre-Restoration Stage in England by Greg, Walter W.
In another place he speaks of it as "the Primrose trew"—Prothalamion; but in another place his only epithet for it is "green," which quite ignores its brightness— "And Primroses greene Embellish the sweete Violet."
From The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare by Ellacombe, Henry Nicholson
Embellish, em-bel′ish, v.t. to make beautiful with ornaments: to decorate: to make graceful: to illustrate pictorially, as a book.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
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.
