ornate
Americanadjective
-
elaborately or sumptuously adorned, often excessively or showily so.
They bought an ornate Louis XIV sofa.
- Synonyms:
- lavish, rich, ostentatious, showy
-
embellished with rhetoric; florid or high-flown.
an ornate style of writing.
adjective
-
heavily or elaborately decorated
-
(of style in writing) overembellished; flowery
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ornate
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin ornātus well-equipped, adorned, originally past participle of ornāre to equip; see -ate 1
Explanation
If something is ornate — whether it's a ball gown, a set of dishes, or a poem — it seems to be covered in ornaments. It's lavish, flowery, or heavily adorned. Look at the first four letters of ornate, and you'll spot the beginning of its close relative ornament. Ornate most often describes how something looks, but it doesn't have to be visual. The prose in Victorian love letters was more ornate than the email messages people send today. The ornate gilded mirrors and enormous chandeliers in the palace at Versailles were the height of fashion in Marie Antoinette's time, but home decor is simpler today. Now, it seems too ornate.
Vocabulary lists containing ornate
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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.
The groom wore a bespoke mallard green suit and ornate bolo tie for the ceremony, per Vogue, while the bride rocked some 5-inch Louboutin heels under her Oscar de la Renta gown.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026
The shrine is the ornate burial place of Ali -- the Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law, the fourth Islamic caliph and the first Shia Imam.
From Barron's • May 4, 2026
“I was there, and I was a pop star — my thing was wearing ornate halos all the time,” you might say.
From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026
He knows he will never have room for the tables and chairs and ornate cabinets, but they reminded him of adventure, of possibility, of youth.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
“You’re always helping little beggars to our property!” screeched the other of them—the woman—as ornate gold pins in her hair shook.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
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.
