embellishment
Americannoun
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an ornament or decoration.
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a fictitious addition, as to a factual statement.
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Music.
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the act of embellishing.
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state of being embellished.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of embellishment
Explanation
Does your cupcake have chocolate icing on top, plus chocolate sprinkles AND a swirl of white chocolate? If so, that swirl of white chocolate is considered an embellishment — an unnecessary decorative detail designed purely to attract you. Also, can we have a bite? Anything can have an embellishment, not just a cupcake; a building can have an unnecessary decorative element, and so can an explanation or a story. There is often a sense of deception implied by the word: it may be a harmless swirl of white chocolate but it can also be a detail designed to fool someone. Real estate agents are experts at adding embellishments to their descriptions of properties that may not be entirely true. Watch out for embellishments.
Vocabulary lists containing embellishment
Just Mercy
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
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The Night Circus
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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.
Her prose has an apt amount of literary embellishment: Jaguars are “light-footed dancers” and a snake bulges “like Saint-Exupéry’s hat.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
Abdullah recounts what he saw plainly, without embellishment.
From BBC • Dec. 20, 2025
To some, they conjure ideas of haute cuisine fuss — dainty smears, baby food textures, or unnecessary embellishment.
From Salon • May 16, 2025
Nicholas Santiago’s projections give eerie embellishment to Stephanie Kerley Schwartz’s scenic design, so that the basic outline of Inverness Castle suggests at moments Dracula’s Transylvanian crypt.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2025
Beyond that, the construction and embellishment is up to him.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
