adorn

Meaning

1. 1verbtransitive

   To make someone or something look more attractive or impressive by putting decorative things on or around it.

   Grammar: Takes an object: flowers adorned the table. Often followed by with: adorn a wall with paintings.

   Patterns

   • adorn something with something
   • be adorned with something
   • adorn someone

   Strings of lights adorned the main street during the festival.

   She adorned her hair with small white flowers.

   Portraits of former headmasters adorn the corridor walls.

Word forms

Common combinations

adorned with jewels

The crown was adorned with jewels from across the empire.

adorn the walls

Colorful murals adorn the walls of the old library.

adorn herself

She adorned herself with gold bracelets before the dance.

richly adorned

The hall was richly adorned for the royal wedding.

adorn the cover

A photograph of the lake adorns the cover of the book.

Synonyms and how they differ

decorate

Decorate is the everyday word and works for any kind of decorating, while adorn sounds more elegant and suggests something beautiful being added.

embellish

Embellish stresses adding extra details to improve something, and it is also used for exaggerating a story, which adorn is not.

garnish

Garnish is used mainly for food, while adorn is for people, places, and objects.

deck

Deck is a lighter, more cheerful word, often used in the phrase deck with flowers or decorations.

Opposites

Word family

adornment noun

a decoration or ornament

adorned adjective

decorated

unadorned adjective

plain, without decoration

Commonly confused: adorn or adore?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “adorn”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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