ornate

[awr-neyt]

adjective

1. elaborately or sumptuously adorned, often excessively or showily so.

   They bought an ornate Louis XIV sofa.

   Synonyms: lavish, rich, ostentatious, showy

2. embellished with rhetoric; florid or high-flown.

   an ornate style of writing.

ornate

/ ɔːˈneɪt /

adjective

1. heavily or elaborately decorated

2. (of style in writing) overembellished; flowery

Other Word Forms

• ornately adverb
• ornateness noun
• unornate adjective
• unornately adverb
• unornateness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ornate¹

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin ornātus well-equipped, adorned, originally past participle of ornāre to equip; -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of ornate¹

C15: from Latin ornāre to decorate

Example Sentences

Women wearing long wigs and ornate traditional dresses milled around a pebbled courtyard, stopping to snap photos under a pavilion, as the melodious strumming of the Chinese zither played in the background.

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The “Throne” is accompanied by matching candlesticks and four ornate vases holding silver and gilt relief bouquets, given by Philip’s successor, Charles II.

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In the state capital of Morelia, several dozen protesters broke down the door of the ornate government palace, started a fire and threw furniture out the window.

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To mark the occasion, Sheikh Mohamed invited Zhao to his ornate private palace where he typically welcomed foreign dignitaries, hidden from the city across an inlet by a dense bank of trees.

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The grounds include ornate gardens, raised garden-bed plots for residents, and art by sculptor Richard Hunt, donated by a current resident.

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Related Words

• baroque 
• beautiful 
• elegant 
• embroidered www.thesaurus.com
• fancy 
• gaudy 
• gilded 
• glamorous 
• lavish 
• magnificent 
• opulent 
• rococo 
• sparkling 
• sumptuous