adornment
Americannoun
-
something that adds attractiveness; ornament; accessory.
the adornments and furnishings of a room.
-
ornamentation; embellishment.
personal adornment.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of adornment
1470–80; adorn + -ment; replacing late Middle English aournement < Middle French
Explanation
An adornment is some ornament or accent that makes a person or thing look more attractive. You might check out your hair in the mirror before a party and decide it needs an adornment — a hat or a glittery barrette. Tinsel draped on a Christmas tree is an adornment, and so are the fuzzy dice hanging on your car's rear view mirror. Lipstick is an adornment, and so is a polka dotted bow tie, since they both dress a person up a little bit. Another way to use adornment is to mean the act or process of decorating: "The adornment of the high school gym had transformed it into a winter wonderland." The Latin root is adornare, "equip or embellish."
Vocabulary lists containing adornment
"The Gift of the Magi"
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
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"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d" by Walt Whitman
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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.
It "gave license to anyone, but especially women, to use fashion beyond adornment and much more intentionally and meaningfully: as a shield, a weapon or both," she said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
She wore a black sparkling gown with a luxurious silver, jewel-encrusted neck adornment.
From BBC ● May 4, 2026
Canaanland is named for the promised land; its Faith Tabernacle can, and often does, hold 50,000 people in a building that resembles an aircraft hangar, its “almost sterile interior” suggesting that “hope is adornment enough.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
Scott’s often been accused in the past of doing “too much,” excessive adornment, but in this context, all of it works.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2025
But once you passed through the Colonial doorways, with only an occasional fan window or low relief pillar to suggest that a certain muted adornment was permissible, you entered an extravaganza of Pompadour splendor.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
