embroidery
Americannoun
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the art of working raised and ornamental designs in threads of silk, cotton, gold, silver, or other material, upon any woven fabric, leather, paper, etc., with a needle.
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embroidered work or ornamentation.
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elaboration or embellishment, as in telling a story.
noun
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decorative needlework done usually on loosely woven cloth or canvas, often being a picture or pattern
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elaboration or exaggeration, esp in writing or reporting; embellishment
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of embroidery
1350–1400; Middle English embrouderie needlework on cloth < Middle French embroud ( er ) + Middle English -erie -ery; oi from embroider
Compare meaning
How does embroidery compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Embroidery is the act of decorating a piece of cloth with a stitched design. You may have seen large medieval examples of embroidery hanging on the walls of museums depicting flowers and wild animals and the like. Embroidery also has a common figurative meaning of something deceptive, or an excessive and unnecessary detail designed to mislead, or simply something vain and foolish (see embellishment.) The great American designer Buckminster Fuller summed up this sense of the word nicely: "Tombs are the clothes of the dead and a grave is a plain suit; while an expensive monument is one with embroidery."
Vocabulary lists containing embroidery
The Breadwinner
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"Uprising," Vocabulary from the historical novel
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On Trend: Fashionable Words
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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.
For its cross-Channel journey, the tapestry has been "folded up like a curtain" and "put in a very, very high-tech container" with climate and vibration controls to protect the delicate embroidery.
From Barron's • Jul. 8, 2026
I’ve seen it on many products, in many different presentations — pink-glitter bubble letters on a sticker, loopy black cursive on a tote bag, industrial embroidery on a hat.
From Salon • Jul. 7, 2026
He had flirted with the idea of buying a franchise for years, but a local opportunity caught his and his girlfriend’s eye: a 30-year-old screen-printing and embroidery shop that had been battered by the pandemic.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 5, 2026
The 11th Century embroidery, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066, is being loaned to the UK while its usual home, the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, undergoes a major renovation.
From BBC • Jul. 1, 2026
Her gown is white, covered in what to Bailey looks like looping black embroidery, but as he walks closer he sees that the black marks are actually words written across the fabric.
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.
