titivate
1 Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb (used with 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
Etymology
Origin of titivate1
1795–1805; earlier tidivate ( tidy + (ele)vate; i.e., tidy up)
Origin of titivate2
First recorded in 1910–15; by erroneous association
Explanation
Titivate means to spiff up or tidy up. When you’re getting dressed for the prom, you might fuss with your hair and your dress and generally titivate yourself until you’re ready to step out and make your grand entry. You can titivate your makeup or your room or you can titivate yourself — all of it in the pursuit of making something more attractive and neat. Titivate can also mean to make small alterations to something. You might titivate your new coat by adding cute buttons and ribbons to it. Titivate, which is not a very commonly used word, may have originated from the word tidy, formed on the pattern of words like cultivate.
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.
Polari Nellyarda, zhoosh the riah, titivate, schlumph your Vera down, and palare that omee for the bevvies because I’ve nanti dinarli.
From The Guardian • Apr. 8, 2016
One in three people in the UK – 20m – are gardeners and they spend £5bn a year at 30,000 garden-related businesses to titivate their flower beds, window boxes, allotments and lawns.
From The Guardian • Mar. 31, 2013
They titivate their short hair: "nothing fantastic, no hint of Merseybeat".
From The Guardian • Dec. 17, 2012
Because nature often takes a bad picture, TV cameramen have learned a few tricks to titivate nature's frowzy face.
From Time Magazine Archive
You'll excuse me, Johnnie, while I go and titivate myself.
From Poor Relations by MacKenzie, Compton
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.
