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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary adorn \\ə-ˈdȯrn\\ transitive verb ETYMOLOGY Middle English, from Latin adornare, from ad- + ornare to furnish — more at ornate
DATE 14th century
1. to enhance the appearance of especially with beautiful objects2. to enliven or decorate as if with ornaments people of fashion who adorned the CourtSynonyms. 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
adorn late 14 c., from O.Fr http://O.Fr . aourner, from L. adornare "equip, provide, embellish," from ad- "to" + ornare "prepare, furnish, adorn, fit out," from stem of ordo "order" (see order). The -d- was reinserted by French scribes 14 c., in English from late 15 c. (see ad-).
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary-牛津双解-OALD7 adorn adorn / E5dC:n; NAmE E5dC:rn / verb[VN] [often passive] ~ sth / sb (with sth) (formal) to make sth / sb look more attractive by decorating it or them with sth 装饰;装扮: The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。 The children adorned themselves with flowers. 孩子们佩戴着鲜花。 Gold rings adorned his fingers. 他的手指戴着几枚金戒指。 (ironic) Graffiti adorned the walls. 这些墙遭到乱画乱涂。 • adorn·ment noun [U, C] : A plain necklace was her only adornment. 她身上的饰物就只有一串简单的项链。
Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged adorn\əˈdȯ(ə)rn, -ȯ(ə)n\ transitive verb( -ed/-ing/-s) Etymology: Middle English adornen, from Middle French adorner, from Latin adornare, from ad- + ornare to furnish, embellish — more at ornate 1. a. : to make pleasing or attractive b. : to add to the pleasantness, attractiveness, splendor, or beauty of < a competence … adorned by an unexcelled brilliance of vivid expression — A.H.Johnson > c. : to point up, highlight, or set off to advantage the pleasantness, attractiveness, splendor, or beauty of < the simplicity with which great composers adorn their works — Warwick Braithwaite >2. : to decorate with or as if with external ornamentation < as a bride adorns herself with her jewels — Isa 61:10 (Revised Standard Version) >3. : to deck out or dress up especially with a resultant sham splendor < garish gin palaces that adorn all the suburbs — S.P.B.Mais >Synonyms: decorate , ornament , embellish , beautify , deck , bedeck , garnish : to adorn signifies to give a certain attractiveness or beauty to (especially to something already quite attractive) by being associated with, physically or otherwise, or by adding something beautiful to < the painters who adorned the Minoan palaces with lovely frescoes — V.G.Childe > < her feet, stockingless, and adorned rather than clad in blue-satin slippers — Scott Fitzgerald > To decorate , often interchangeable with adorn , generally implies the adding of something of color or interest to relieve plainness or monotony < the music was brief, gracefully decorated with trills and curlicues — Time > < pathways, decorated with ornamental trees and shrubs — Tom Marvel > To ornament implies a decorating by means of something extraneous, as an adjunct or accessory < columns ornament the front entrance — American Guide Series: Maine > To embellish , stressing more the act of an agent than an effect, suggests strongly the adding of superfluous or adventitious ornamental elements < Gothic cathedrals … embellished, both inside and out, with grinning gargoyles — Lytton Strachey > To beautify is to make relatively beautiful, especially by neutralizing, masking, or transforming a certain plainness or ugliness < salt cedars and oleanders have been planted to beautify the highway — American Guide Series: Texas > To deck or bedeck implies the addition of something which contributes to gaiety, interest, splendor, or sometimes gaudiness < deck the halls with boughs of holly > < he was as fine as any prince, ablaze with jewels, bedecked with yards of snowy lace and fine embroidery — Frank Yerby > < bedecked with cheap finery > To garnish implies a decorating with something small but bright and attractive as a final touch in preparation for use or service < a steak garnished with parsley > < the old-fashioned polemical sermon … garnished with quotations in Greek — Van Wyck Brooks >
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