adorned; adorning; adorns

transitive verb

1
: to enhance the appearance of especially with beautiful objects
adorned the wall with her paintings
2
: to enliven or decorate as if with ornaments
people of fashion who adorned the Court
Choose the Right Synonym for adorn

adorn, decorate, ornament, embellish, beautify, deck, garnish mean to enhance the appearance of something by adding something unessential.

adorn implies an enhancing by something beautiful in itself.

a diamond necklace adorned her neck

decorate suggests relieving plainness or monotony by adding beauty of color or design.

decorate a birthday cake

ornament and embellish imply the adding of something extraneous, ornament stressing the heightening or setting off of the original

a white house ornamented with green shutters

, embellish often stressing the adding of superfluous or adventitious ornament.

embellish a page with floral borders

beautify adds to embellish a suggestion of counterbalancing plainness or ugliness.

will beautify the grounds with flower beds

deck implies the addition of something that contributes to gaiety, splendor, or showiness.

a house all decked out for Christmas

garnish suggests decorating with a small final touch and is used especially in referring to the serving of food.

an entrée garnished with parsley

Examples of adorn in a Sentence

Her paintings adorn the walls. the Sultan's tent was richly adorned with thick tapestries and gleaming gold candlesticks
Recent Examples on the Web Her black bodysuit, which has been adorned with red snakes every night since the first stop in Glendale, Arizona, more than a year ago, instead glittered with shimmering gold snakes weaving up her body. Katie Campione, Deadline, 19 Oct. 2024 The oversized florals adorn dresses like the Affirmation Maxi Dress, which is adorned with a giant pink lily print, or the Fioretta Floret top and matching maxi skirt is an arty addition to any beach vacation. Nadja Sayej, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024 One wedding in Connecticut used fall foliage as an aesthetic accent throughout, while another in the same state adorned their table with classic red roses to create a dramatic, romantic effect. Elise Taylor, Vogue, 16 Oct. 2024 Some, like Anne Barge, offer barely-there spaghetti straps, while others, like Claire Pettibone, adorn them with appliqués for a bonus moment of detail. Bella Gerard, refinery29.com, 16 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for adorn 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'adorn.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English aournen, adournen, borrowed from Anglo-French aurner, adourner (with d restored from Latin), going back to Latin adōrnāre "to get ready, prepare, decorate, embellish," from ad- ad- + ōrnāre "to prepare, equip, embellish" — more at ornate

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of adorn was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near adorn

Cite this Entry

“Adorn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adorn. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

adorn

verb
: to enhance the appearance of with ornaments

More from Merriam-Webster on adorn

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