Synonyms for adorn

25 synonyms
2 meanings

verb

Most common

decorate ornament embellish beautify gild

Synonyms by meaning

Verb

1. Decorate

decorate, beautify, embellish, ornament, grace, enrich, deck, dignify, garnish, prettify, trick out informal, become, array, dress up, set out, honor US, honour UK, dress, trim, illustrate, pretty up informal, apparel, deck out

2. Clothe

clothe, invest formal

Other

gild

Definitions

v. 1
To make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate.
a man adorned with noble statuary and columns

Forms

Past participle: adorned
e.g. adorned → decorated, beautified, embellished, ornamented…

Choose the right word

Adorn, Ornament or Ornamented?

To adorn and to ornament alike signify to add that which makes anything beautiful and attractive, but ornament is more exclusively on the material plane; as, the gateway was ornamented with delicate carving.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

decorate Tom helped his mother decorate the Christmas tree.
ornament Friends who pay a visit are an ornament to the home.
embellish You're just seeking to embellish all this!
beautify We use them to beautify our home.
gild One can never gild shit so it does not smell.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
adorn		rising
decorate		rising
ornament		falling
embellish		rising
beautify		steady
gild		falling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: deck¹, trim¹, gild¹
5 letters: dress¹, honor², grace¹, array²
6 letters: become², honour², invest², enrich², clothe¹
7 letters: apparel³, garnish², dignify³
8 letters: decorate³, ornament³, beautify³, prettify
9 letters: embellish³
10 letters: illustrate³

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (honor² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: orner
Italiano: decorare
Español: adornar
Català: ornamentar