Library / English Dictionary

ADORN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.

Example:

beautify yourself for the special day

Synonyms:

adorn; beautify; decorate; embellish; grace; ornament

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "adorn" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Verb group:

ornament (be an ornament to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "adorn"):

stucco (decorate with stucco work)

redecorate (redo the decoration of an apartment or house)

panel (decorate with panels)

bejewel; jewel (adorn or decorate with precious stones)

filet; fillet (decorate with a lace of geometric designs)

scallop (decorate an edge with scallops)

bedizen (decorate tastelessly)

dress ship (decorate a ship with flags)

dress; garnish; trim (decorate (food), as with parsley or other ornamental foods)

trim (decorate, as with ornaments)

bedeck; bedight; deck (decorate)

festoon (decorate with strings of flowers)

enamel (coat, inlay, or surface with enamel)

inlay (decorate the surface of by inserting wood, stone, and metal)

lacquer (coat with lacquer)

begild; engild; gild (decorate with, or as if with, gold leaf or liquid gold)

illuminate (add embellishments and paintings to (medieval manuscripts))

blazon; emblazon (decorate with heraldic arms)

color; colour; emblazon (decorate with colors)

fringe (adorn with a fringe)

fret (decorate with an interlaced design)

landscape (embellish with plants)

wreathe (decorate or deck with wreaths)

beset; encrust; incrust (decorate or cover lavishly (as with gems))

braid (decorate with braids or ribbons)

broider; embroider (decorate with needlework)

stick (cover and decorate with objects that pierce the surface)

illustrate (supply with illustrations)

garland (adorn with bands of flowers or leaves)

fledge; flight (decorate with feathers)

bespangle; spangle (decorate with spangles)

foliate (decorate with leaves)

flag (decorate with flags)

bard; barde; caparison; dress up (put a caparison on)

bead (decorate by sewing beads onto)

pipe (trim with piping)

applique (sew on as a decoration)

gild the lily; paint the lily (adorn unnecessarily (something that is already beautiful))

vermiculate (decorate with wavy or winding lines)

smock (embellish by sewing in straight lines crossing each other diagonally)

hang (decorate or furnish with something suspended)

prank (dress or decorate showily or gaudily)

tinsel (adorn with tinsel)

tart up (decorate in a cheap and flashy way)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They adorn the halls with holly

Derivation:

adornment (the action of decorating yourself with something colorful and interesting)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Furnish with power or authority; of kings or emperors

Synonyms:

adorn; clothe; invest

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "adorn" is one way to...):

equip; fit; fit out; outfit (provide with (something) usually for a specific purpose)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody with something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be beautiful to look at

Example:

Flowers adorned the tables everywhere

Synonyms:

adorn; beautify; deck; decorate; embellish; grace

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "adorn" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "adorn"):

ornament (be an ornament to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sentence example:

Holly flowers adorn the halls

Derivation:

adornment (a decoration of color or interest that is added to relieve plainness)

Credits

 Context examples: 

We found the apartment vacant; a large fire burning silently on the marble hearth, and wax candles shining in bright solitude, amid the exquisite flowers with which the tables were adorned.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“Then read this,” quoth Sir Nigel, pointing upwards to one of the many quarterings which adorned the wall over the fireplace.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For instance, when I am at home, and dressed as I ought to be, I carry on my body the workmanship of a hundred tradesmen; the building and furniture of my house employ as many more, and five times the number to adorn my wife.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A dignity was given to the contest by a rigid code of ceremony, just as the clash of mail-clad knights was prefaced and adorned by the calling of the heralds and the showing of blazoned shields.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And north we travelled with it, ravaging and destroying, flinging the naked carcasses to the shark and salting down the skins so that they might later adorn the fair shoulders of the women of the cities.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Beyond the veranda was a small cleared garden, bounded with cactus hedges and adorned with clumps of flowering shrubs, round which the great blue butterflies and the tiny humming-birds fluttered and darted in crescents of sparkling light.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This declaration brought on a loud and overpowering reply, of which no part was very distinct, except the frequent exclamations, amounting almost to oaths, which adorned it, and Catherine was left, when it ended, with rather a strengthened belief of there being a great deal of wine drunk in Oxford, and the same happy conviction of her brother's comparative sobriety.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I have always held, too, that pistol practice should be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Holmes, in one of his queer humours, would sit in an armchair with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V. R. done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now it was not only shut, but locked, and yesterday's mud still adorned the steps.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I could not see him for the tears which his earnestness and goodness, so adorned by, and so adorning, the perfect simplicity of his manner, brought into my eyes.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)