decorate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to furnish or adorn with something ornamental or becoming; embellish.
to decorate walls with murals.
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to plan and execute the design, furnishings, and ornamentation of the interior of (a house, office, apartment, etc.), especially by selecting colors, fabrics, and style of furniture, by making minor structural changes, etc..
Their house is decorated in French Provincial style.
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to confer distinction upon by a badge, a medal of honor, etc..
to decorate a soldier for valor.
verb
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(tr) to make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc
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to paint or wallpaper (a room, house, etc)
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(tr) to confer a mark of distinction, esp a military medal, upon
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(tr) to evaporate a metal film onto (a crystal) in order to display dislocations in structure
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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decoratesimple
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decoratessimple
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have decoratedperfect
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has decoratedperfect
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am decoratingprogressive
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are decoratingprogressive
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is decoratingprogressive
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have been decoratingperfect progressive
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has been decoratingperfect progressive
Past
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decoratedsimple
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had decoratedperfect
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was decoratingprogressive
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were decoratingprogressive
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had been decoratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of decorate
1375–1425; late Middle English (adj.) < Latin decorātus (past participle of decorāre ), equivalent to decor- (stem of decus ) an ornament, splendor, honor ( see decent) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Putting up paintings, stringing up lights, and getting some flowers are all ways to decorate a house. When you decorate, you make things look better or at least more interesting. Even an attractively furnished home can be decorated for a holiday or party. That means you dress up your house to celebrate the special occasion. Decorate is also used to describe certain kinds of success. A famous athlete might decorate a gym with trophies and championship rings. We say a person in the military, like a general, is decorated when he or she is given medals for bravery or other accomplishments.
Vocabulary lists containing decorate
Easter Vocabulary
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Lesson 3
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"Making Faces"
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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.
See Examples For:
And just to decorate his status as the complete world-class player, Erling Haaland is the only other player at this World Cup to score with his left-foot, right-foot and head.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
It was probably commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux -- William's half-brother -- in 1077 to decorate the new cathedral in his hometown, Bayeux, according to the tapestry's home museum.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
Paint, layer and decorate it to your heart’s desire.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
Several of her vibrant abstract paintings now decorate the restaurant’s walls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
“I’ve heard it’s some sort of a tradition round here to decorate this old Styrofoam snowman,” Mrs. Shannon continues.
From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper
Rather, she takes a plain white bag and decorates it to the max — an “Easter basket of sorts,” as she describes the final product.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 2, 2026
What if Jesse decorates the house with toilet paper?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
He often takes to the field with painted nails, which he decorates to bond with four-year-old daughter Leila.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2025
But the epiphanic ding! hits her as she’s smoothing a Band-Aid onto her forehead wound, and considers the superhero that decorates it: the Incredible Hulk.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2024
He decorates them with swirling snakes and hungry scorpions.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
PARIS—Zinédine Zidane, one of the most decorated coaches in European soccer and greatest players of his generation, had sat on the sidelines for five years, waiting for precisely this job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
It stood outside a brick six-flat, also fittingly painted blue, and decorated with a few stickers: “Protect Native Plants,” a rocket ship from a regional space camp, several iridescent birds.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
The results could give archaeologists a powerful new way to reconstruct when people entered decorated caves, made paintings, and returned to alter or add to them.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
“It looked like a UPS truck in here. I mean, look at me,” she adds, fluffing the ruffles of her Accidente Con Flores dress, her intricately manicured fingers decorated with colorful Zuni Toons rings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
She’s wearing a dress of white sand, decorated with seashells and diamonds.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Krispy Kreme now does 15 to 20 special runs of doughnuts a year, plus a collection for each season, with staff decorating them by hand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
For the tourists' benefit, Vlkolinec puts on traditional craft demonstrations, from sewing folk costumes and gingerbread decorating to mowing and haymaking.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Scotland fans visiting the city for the World Cup have been decorating its statues with bright orange traffic cones, much to the bemusement of locals.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
Wilber and his sister had spent days decorating the cap, bedazzling the bottom half in blue and white gems — the colors of the Nicaraguan flag.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
The baker behind the counter has just finished decorating a cake.
From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson
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.
