ornament
Americannoun
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an accessory, article, or detail used to beautify the appearance of something to which it is added or of which it is a part.
architectural ornaments.
- Synonyms:
- embellishment
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a system, category, or style of such objects or features; ornamentation.
a book on Gothic ornament.
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any adornment or means of adornment.
- Synonyms:
- decoration
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a person or thing that adds to the credit or glory of a society, era, etc.
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the act of adorning.
- Synonyms:
- decoration
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the state of being adorned.
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mere outward display.
a speech more of ornament than of ideas.
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Chiefly Ecclesiastical. any accessory, adjunct, or equipment.
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Music. a tone or group of tones applied as decoration to a principal melodic tone.
noun
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anything that enhances the appearance of a person or thing
-
decorations collectively
she was totally without ornament
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a small decorative object
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something regarded as a source of pride or beauty
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music any of several decorations, such as the trill, mordent, etc, occurring chiefly as improvised embellishments in baroque music
verb
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to decorate with or as if with ornaments
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to serve as an ornament to
Other Word Forms
- ornamentation noun
- ornamenter noun
- overornament verb (used with object)
- reornament verb (used with object)
- superornament noun
Etymology
Origin of ornament
1175–1225; < Latin ornāmentum equipment, ornament, equivalent to ornā ( re ) to equip + -mentum -ment; replacing Middle English ornement < Old French < Latin, as above
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.
Represented by a blue‑skinned woman wearing feather ornaments, Gaitana describes herself as an environmentalist and animal rights defender.
From Barron's
The chapel’s four dissimilar facades—essentially interconnected white surfaces, ornamented and perforated with markedly different patterns of windows and doorways—are topped with a gray, curvaceous concrete roof.
In San Francisco, Anthropic fans wielded brightly colored sidewalk chalk to ornament the pavement outside of the company’s office with messages of thanks, laudatories such as “You are patriots” and references to Nelson Mandela.
Having them can be explained away as old, traditional ornaments or as coming from an animal that died of natural causes.
From BBC
Very different are the bold designs for wrought-iron ornament, drawn full size, for making grilles, chandeliers and decorative crests.
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.
