embellish
/im'beliʃ/
Definition
- Verb:
- To make something more beautiful or attractive by adding decorative details or features: This is the core meaning, referring to the act of enhancing appearance through ornamentation.
- To add fictitious or exaggerated details to a story or account: This figurative meaning involves making a narrative more interesting or dramatic, often by adding invented elements.
Usage and Examples
- To decorate or adorn:
- She used lace and ribbons to embellish the plain dress.
- The architect's plan was to embellish the façade with intricate stone carvings.
- To add detail to a story, often making it more interesting or less accurate:
- He tends to embellish his fishing stories, making the fish bigger each time he tells it.
- The biography was criticized for embellishing the facts of the subject's early life.
Advanced Usage
- "Embellish upon": To elaborate or expand on a story with added details.
- Every time he tells that anecdote, he embellishes upon it a little more.
- "Embellished with": Describing something that has been decorated using specific items.
- The manuscript was embellished with gold leaf and colorful illustrations.
Variants and Related Words
- Embellishment (noun): A decorative detail or feature added to something; also, a detail added to a story.
- The costume was simple, without any embellishments.
- His account of the event was full of obvious embellishments.
- Embellisher (noun): A person who embellishes.
Synonyms
- Adorn: To make more attractive or beautiful.
- Decorate: To add something ornamental.
- Ornament: To serve as a decoration for.
- Enhance: To intensify or improve in quality.
- Elaborate: To develop or present in greater detail (often used for ideas or stories).
- Exaggerate: To represent as greater than is actually the case (closer to the second meaning).
Antonyms
- Simplify: To make less complex or ornate.
- Strip: To remove all decoration or additional features.
- Mar: To impair the appearance of; disfigure.
Related Phrases and Idioms
- "To gild the lily": This idiom is related to the concept of unnecessary embellishment, meaning to try to improve something that is already beautiful or excellent, often with superfluous additions.
Verb
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make more beautiful
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make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.
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Decorate the room for the party
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beautify yourself for the special day
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be beautiful to look at
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Flowers adorned the tables everywhere
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add details to
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