Embellish

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Embellish \Em*bel"lish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Embellished}; p.
     pr. & vb. n. {Embellishing}.] [OE. embelisen, embelisshen, F.
     embellir; pref. em- (L. in) + bel, beau, beautiful. See
     {Beauty}.]
     To make beautiful or elegant by ornaments; to decorate; to
     adorn; as, to embellish a book with pictures, a garden with


     shrubs and flowers, a narrative with striking anecdotes, or
     style with metaphors.
  
     Syn: To adorn; beautify; deck; bedeck; decorate; garnish;
          enrich; ornament; illustrate. See {Adorn}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  embellish
       v 1: add details to [syn: {embroider}, {pad}, {lard}, {aggrandize},
             {aggrandise}, {blow up}, {dramatize}, {dramatise}]
       2: be beautiful to look at; "Flowers adorned the tables
          everywhere" [syn: {deck}, {adorn}, {decorate}, {grace}, {beautify}]
       3: make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.;
          "Decorate the room for the party"; "beautify yourself for
          the special day" [syn: {decorate}, {adorn}, {grace}, {ornament},
           {beautify}]
       4: make more beautiful [syn: {beautify}, {prettify}] [ant: {uglify}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  103 Moby Thesaurus words for "embellish":
     adorn, apparel, array, beautify, bedeck, bedizen, belie, blazon,
     camouflage, caparison, color, convolute, cultivate, dandify, deck,
     deck out, decorate, develop, disguise, distort, dizen, doll up,
     dress, dress up, elaborate, emblazon, embroider, enhance, enrich,
     evolve, exaggerate, falsify, festoon, fig out, finish, fix up,
     flourish, fudge, furbish, furbish up, garble, garnish, gild,
     gild the lily, gloss, gloss over, grace, gussy up, improve,
     involve, load with ornament, magnify, mask, mature, miscite,
     miscolor, misquote, misreport, misrepresent, misstate, ornament,
     overcharge, overdo, overdraw, overlay, overload, overpaint,
     overstate, pad, paint, perfect, pervert, polish, prank, prank up,
     preen, prettify, primp, primp up, prink, prink up, redecorate,
     redo, refine, refurbish, ripen, season, set off, set out, slant,
     smarten, smarten up, spruce up, strain, titivate, trick out,
     trick up, trim, twist, understate, varnish, warp, whitewash