adorn

English

Etymology

From Middle English aournen (late Middle English adornen), from Old French aorner (Middle French adorner), from Latin adōrnāre, present active infinitive of adōrnō; from ad + ōrnō (“furnish, embellish”). See adore, ornate.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /əˈdoɹn/
• (UK) IPA: /əˈdɔː(ɹ)n

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)n

Verb

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.

   a lady was adorned with jewels

   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

Synonyms

• beautify
• bedeck
• decorate
• deck
• grace
• ornament
• prettify

Translations

to make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate

• Armenian: զարդարել (hy) (zardarel)
• Bulgarian: украсявам (bg) (ukrasjavam), окичвам (bg) (okičvam)
• Czech: zdobit (cs)
• Dutch: sieren (nl)
• Esperanto: ornami (eo)
• Finnish: koristaa (fi), koristella (fi)
• German: schmücken (de), zieren (de), verzieren (de)
• Greek: διακοσμώ (el) (diakosmó)
• Hebrew: עיטר (he) (itér), קישט (he) (kishét)

• Latin: adōrnō (la)
• Maori: rākai (mi), rākei (mi)
• Old English: ġefrætwian (ang)
• Portuguese: adornar (pt)
• Romanian: decora (ro), ornamenta (ro), înfrumuseța (ro), împodobi (ro), orna (ro)
• Russian: украшать (ru) (ukrašát') impf., украсить (ru) (ukrásit') pf.
• Scottish Gaelic: sgeadaich (gd)
• Spanish: adornar (es), ornar (es), engalanar (es)
• Swedish: pryda (sv), smycka (sv)
• Volapük: dekön (vo)

Noun

adorn

1. (obsolete) adornment

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Anagrams

• and/or
• andro
• NORAD
• radon