titivate
1 Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to smarten up (oneself or another), as by making up, doing the hair, etc
-
(tr) to smarten up (a thing)
to titivate a restaurant
Other Word Forms
- titivation noun
- titivator noun
Etymology
Origin of titivate1
First recorded in 1910–15; by erroneous association
Origin of titivate1
1795–1805; earlier tidivate ( tidy + (ele)vate; i.e., tidy up)
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 sort of things that, dare I say, have been titivated up and had quite a bit of value added to them."
From BBC
There is something anxious, and very intriguing, in the degree of experimentation in this memoir, in its elaborately titivated sentences, its thicket of citations.
From New York Times
Sharp, salty and/or crunchy are the aims here, to titivate and offset the creamy avo.
From The Guardian
“The majority were content to titivate or embellish their past.”
From New York Times
Meanwhile, their lustrous hair and glowing complexions suggest long spa weekends spent having their T-zones titivated by Aphrodite herself.
From The Guardian
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.
