adorn

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English adornen, adournen, from Latin adōrnāre, present active infinitive of adōrnō; from ad +‎ ōrnō (furnish, embellish). See adore, ornate. Replaced earlier Middle English aournen (to adorn) borrowed from Old French aorner, from the same Latin source.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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adorn (third-person singular simple present adorns, present participle adorning, simple past and past participle adorned)

  1. To make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate.
    Synonyms: beautify, bedeck, decorate, deck, grace, ornament, prettify; see also Thesaurus:decorate
    a man adorned with noble statuary and columns
    a character adorned with every Christian grace
    A gallery of paintings was adorned with the works of some of the great masters.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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adorn

  1. (obsolete) adornment

Adjective

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adorn

  1. (obsolete) adorned; ornate
    • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC:
      And to realities yield all her shows:
      Made so adorn for thy delight the more
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Anagrams

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