decorator
Americannoun
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a person whose profession is the painting and wallpapering of buildings
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a person who decorates
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of decorator
Explanation
A decorator is a person whose job involves decorating rooms — fixing them up, painting, arranging furniture, and so on. Your uncle might hire a decorator to help him furnish his brand new, fancy vacation home. You can also call a decorator a designer or an interior designer. Skilled decorators are particularly good at combining colors, fabrics, rugs, and furniture styles to make a good-looking space. Even if you're not a professional decorator, you could offer to help a friend decorate her apartment, painting her walls bright orange and sewing fuzzy green pillows for her sofa. Decorator comes from the Latin word decorare, "to adorn, embellish, or beautify."
Vocabulary lists containing decorator
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:
But Cain, an interior decorator for 25 years, wasn’t daunted by the chaos that came with such an extensive project.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
David Sanchez, a 48-year-old painter and decorator, had just returned home to Cebreros after evacuating at the weekend to find that his small olive and pistachio grove had been consumed by the inferno.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
While traveling with Ildr, he has dreams of his life as a decorator, creating an “Inception”-style circuit of realities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
At times Stana appears to have worked as a decorator in London.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
"You might as well redecorate the entire kitchen," Grace Wexler, decorator, proposed.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
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This is especially true for the oversize ones, which holiday decorators say are superior in quality and creativity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
And yet: If the White House’s furniture, paintings, and wallpaper inspire the fervent scrutiny of the nation’s interior decorators, it is because meatier changes have been so rare.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2025
Some became dog walkers and decorators; others, chimney sweeps.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2025
You have set builders and set decorators and hair, makeup, all kinds of things.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2024
We can’t go in Heather’s room because the decorators aren’t finished.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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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.