Embellishment

3 definitions found

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

  Embellishment \Em*bel"lish*ment\, n. [Cf. F. embellissement.]
     1. The act of adorning, or the state of being adorned;
        adornment.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              In the selection of their ground, as well as in the


              embellishment of it.                  --Prescott.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. That which adds beauty or elegance; ornament; decoration;
        as, pictorial embellishments.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The graces and embellishments of the exterior man.
                                                    --I. Taylor.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  embellishment
       n 1: elaboration of an interpretation by the use of decorative
            (sometimes fictitious) detail; "the mystery has been
            heightened by many embellishments in subsequent
            retellings" [syn: {embroidery}]
       2: a superfluous ornament
       3: the act of adding extraneous decorations to something [syn:
          {ornamentation}]

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

  101 Moby Thesaurus words for "embellishment":
     acciaccatura, adjunct, adornment, appoggiatura, arabesque,
     arrangement, beauties, beautification, bedizenment, cadence,
     cadenza, color, color patterns, coloratura, coloring, colors,
     colors of rhetoric, decor, decoration, development, division,
     duplication, duplication of effort, elaboration, elegant variation,
     emblazonment, emblazonry, embroidery, enhancement, evolution,
     exaggeration, expletive, extravagance, fat, featherbedding, figure,
     figure of speech, filling, fine writing, fioritura, flight,
     floridity, floridness, flourish, flower arrangement, floweriness,
     flowers of speech, frill, frills, frippery, furniture arrangement,
     garnish, garnishment, garniture, gilding, gingerbread, grace,
     grace note, hyperbole, illumination, incidental, incidental note,
     long mordent, lushness, luxuriance, luxury, maturation, mordent,
     needlessness, ornament, ornamentation, ostentation, overadornment,
     overlap, overstatement, padding, passage, payroll padding,
     perfection, pleonasm, pralltriller, prolixity, purple patches,
     redundance, redundancy, refinement, ripening, roulade, run,
     seasoning, single mordent, superfluity, superfluousness, tautology,
     tinsel, trim, trimming, turn, unnecessariness, verbosity,
     window dressing