flowery

American  

[flou-uh-ree] / ˈflaʊ ə ri /

adjective

flowerier, floweriest

1. covered with or having many flowers.

2. decorated with floral designs.

3. rhetorically ornate or precious.

   flowery language.

   Synonyms:

   elaborate, showy, florid

4. resembling a flower in fragrance.

   a Rhine wine with a flowery aroma.

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flowery British  

/ ˈflaʊərɪ /

adjective

1. abounding in flowers

2. decorated with flowers or floral patterns

3. like or suggestive of flowers

   a flowery scent

4. (of language or style) elaborate; ornate

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Synonym Usage

See bombastic.

Other Word Forms

• floweriness
  noun
• unflowery
  adjective
• flowerily
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of flowery

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at flower, -y ¹

Explanation

Something flowery either looks, smells, or feels like flowers. You might wear flowery perfume or write a flowery poem starting with "Roses are red..." However, flowery is not a compliment when it comes to writing. If a blanket has a lot of pictures of flowers on it, it's flowery. If a scent reminds you of flowers, it's flowery. Flowery things make you think of flowers in some way. Also, flowery things are full of intricate details, maybe a little too full of them. A flowery speech might have many figures of speech but very little content. A flowery building design has lots of little touches and details. Flowery can mean something close to ornate.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

flowery flowerier floweriest

Mr. Mauch’s prose is not flowery, but direct, single-minded and determined, like the man himself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026

She was convinced most people were sheep — including those who loved the flowery writing and cheesy romance plots of her novels.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2025

"Zhao's ban has been served and he is perfectly entitled to be competing again, but I've found the flowery language since his return somewhat befuddling given the circumstances," said snooker journalist Nick Metcalfe.

From BBC ● May 3, 2025

The denizens of Millionaire’s Row wore white linen, seersucker suits, flowery hats and expensive lace versus the short pants and bathing suits among those who lived in the infield.

From Salon ● May 4, 2024

So I feigned interest in flowery descriptions of thwarted romance and complicated sacrifice all the way back to the main road, where Lula turned off to her house while Travis strenuously waved goodbye.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

The 30-year-old took the opportunity to use “bigger, flowerier, prettier words” in her lyrics without fear of those words not tracking on pop radio.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2020

Emperor Kien Lung wrote, 200 years or more ago, for the benefit of his children, just before he left the Flowery Kingdom for a flowerier:

From The Little Tea Book by Hood, George Washington

Richmond's five-year-old Virginia Museum of Fine Arts put the whole Chrysler collection on exhibition, and 989 art lovers including Richmond's floweriest socialites went to look.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then the strath opened out and we saw Ken flow silver-clear between the greenest and floweriest banks in the world.

From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

To Claude it seemed as though nothing older or larger could be so exactly in the prime of beauty; the path to learning was the widest, floweriest, fragrantest path he had ever trod.

From Bonaventure A Prose Pastoral of Acadian Louisiana by Cable, George Washington

"It is the airiest, floweriest, sunniest, brightest, most delightful altogether house, that ever took lodgers in!"

From The End of a Coil by Warner, Susan

One can't describe the beauty of the Italian lakes, nor would one try if one could; the floweriest rhetoric can recall it only as a picture on a fireboard recalls a Claude.

From Italian Hours by James, Henry