Definition

1. Verb:
   • To dress or adorn in a gaudy, showy, or tasteless manner: To decorate or attire someone or something with excessive, flashy, or vulgar ornamentation, often resulting in an overly ostentatious appearance.
   • To decorate in a vulgar or tasteless way: To embellish something with decorations that are considered cheap, garish, or lacking in aesthetic judgment.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • The stage manager decided to bedizen the set with cheap, glittering fabrics, making it look tacky.
  • She was bedizened with so many gaudy jewels that she looked more like a costume than a guest at the formal event.
  • Critics argued that the new owners had bedizened the historic building's facade with neon lights, ruining its classic elegance.

Advanced Usage

• "to bedizen oneself": to dress oneself in a gaudy or tastelessly ornate manner.
  • For the costume party, he chose to bedizen himself in a mismatched, sequined outfit.
• Used figuratively: to describe something that is overly decorated or embellished in a non-physical sense, such as language or writing.
  • The author's prose was bedizened with so many obscure metaphors that the core message was lost.

Variants and Related Words

• Bedizenment (n): The state or result of being bedizened; gaudy adornment.
  • The bedizenment of the parade float was overwhelming.

Synonyms

• Adorn gaudily
• Bedeck
• Deck out
• Embellish tastelessly
• Tart up (informal)

Antonyms

• Simplify
• Understate
• Tone down

Notes on Usage

• The word "bedizen" carries a strong negative connotation, implying criticism of the decoration as being in poor taste, vulgar, or excessively flashy. It is not a neutral term for dressing up.
• It is a somewhat literary or formal word and is not commonly used in everyday conversation.

Verb

1. dress up garishly and tastelessly
2. decorate tastelessly