embroidery
Americannoun
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embroideries
plural
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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
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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:
"It shows what collaboration can achieve," Burnham told Macron on Thursday, saying France's loan to Britain of the almost thousand-year-old embroidery was a "huge personal gesture of goodwill, trust and friendship".
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
In the middle of enthusing about a cross-stitch embroidery project, she says, “Don’t roll your eyes at me!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Viewing an early medieval embroidery close up is quite something.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
At Vollpension cafe in Vienna’s lively Wieden district, guests are welcomed by a silver-haired hostess who seats them around coffee tables in a room laden with embroidery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
She saw she could not love the embroidery so much without loving its creator and her son.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
Then, there are rare Indo-Portuguese embroideries and some Haji Rumals - embroidered religious cloth once exported to Indonesia and parts of the Arab world as a headdress for men.
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2025
Famed mass placard displays in stadiums often feature wartime imagery, and foreign tourists can buy posters and embroideries of soldiers and partisans in Pyongyang.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
Halfway between the capital and the Belarusian border, I had to contort my body through twisted studs to enter the leveled Ivankiv Historical and Local History Museum, its statuary now pitted, its embroideries scorched.
From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2022
That means choosing the right colours, embroideries for gowns, non-crease fabrics and ensuring necklines, sleeves and hemlines are the correct length.
From Reuters ● May 18, 2022
She too was dressed in an outfit similar to the man’s, except hers had a few cheap embroideries.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
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.
