decorate

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English decorat (“adorned”), from Latin decorātus, perfect passive participle of decorō (“to adorn, distinguish, honor”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from decus (“ornament, grace, dignity, honor”, decor- in compounds), akin to decor (“elegance, grace, beauty, ornament”), from decet (“adorn, befit”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛkəɹeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dec‧or‧ate

Verb

decorate (third-person singular simple present decorates, present participle decorating, simple past and past participle decorated)

1. (transitive) To furnish with decorations.

   We decorated the Christmas tree with tinsel and baubles.

2. (transitive) To improve the appearance of an interior of, as a house, room, or office.

   There's some paint left over from when we decorated the guest bedroom.

3. (intransitive) To add adornments to an interior space, as a house, room, or office.

   People tend to decorate for the holidays or special events.

4. (transitive) To honor by providing a medal, ribbon, or other adornment.

   He was a decorated soldier who served in three wars.

5. (programming, transitive) To extend a method, etc. by attaching some further code item.

   It makes sure that the field name argument is not empty, and that the field specified there is an actual existing field in the class which declares the method decorated with this attribute.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:decorate

Derived terms

• decoratable
• decorative
• decorator
• decoratress
• decoratrix
• decorin
• immunodecorate
• misdecorate
• overdecorate
• redecorate
• undecorate

Related terms

• decoration

Translations

to furnish with decorations

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: زين (zayyin)

• Armenian: զարդարել (hy) (zardarel)
• Assamese: সজোৱা (xozüa)
• Bulgarian: украсявам (bg) (ukrasjavam), декори́рам (bg) (dekoríram)
• Catalan: decorar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 裝飾 / 装饰 (zh) (zhuāngshì), 布置 (zh) (bùzhì)

• Cornish: takla
• Czech: zdobit (cs)
• Dutch: sieren (nl), opsmukken (nl), decoreren (nl)
• Esperanto: ornami, dekori
• Finnish: somistaa (fi), koristella (fi), koristaa (fi)
• French: décorer (fr), orner (fr)
• Galician: decorar (gl)
• German: ausschmücken (de), dekorieren (de)
• Greek: διακοσμώ (el) (diakosmó)
• Hebrew: עיטר (he) (itér), קישט (kishét)
• Hindi: सजाना (hi) (sajānā)
• Hungarian: díszít (hu), feldíszít (hu), dekorál (hu)
• Irish: maisigh
• Italian: decorare (it)
• Japanese: 飾る (ja) (かざる, kazaru), 装飾する (ja) (そうしょくする, sōshoku-suru)
• Kazakh: сәндеу (sändeu)
• Korean: 꾸미다 (ko) (kkumida)
• Latin: decorō, como
• Malayalam: അലങ്കരിക്കുക (ml) (alaṅkarikkuka)
• Maori: whakarārakei, nakonako
• Marathi: सजवणे (sajavṇe)
• Middle English: garnysshen
• Nheengatu: mupuranga, mpuranga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dekorere

• Occitan: decorar (oc)
• Old English: hrēodan
• Persian: آراستن (fa) (ârâstan), زینت کردن (zinat kardan)
• Polish: dekorować (pl), zdobić (pl)
• Portuguese: decorar (pt)
• Quechua: k'achanchay
• Romagnol: adubêr
• Romanian: decora (ro), orna (ro)
• Russian: украша́ть (ru) impf (ukrašátʹ), укра́сить (ru) pf (ukrásitʹ), декори́ровать (ru) impf or pf (dekorírovatʹ)
• Sanskrit: सज्जयति (sajjayati)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgeadaich
• Spanish: decorar (es)
• Swedish: dekorera (sv)
• Telugu: అలంకరించు (te) (alaṅkariñcu)
• Tocharian B: yät-
• Vietnamese: trang trí (vi)

to improve the appearance of a house, room, office and so forth

• Bulgarian: ремонтирам (bg) (remontiram), реновирам (renoviram)
• Czech: zdobit (cs)
• Finnish: somistaa (fi)
• French: décorer (fr)
• German: (to renovate) renovieren (de), (to paper) tapezieren (de), (to paint white) weißeln (de)
• Hebrew: עיטר (he) (itér), קישט (kishét)
• Japanese: 模様替えをする (ja) (moyōgae o suru)
• Maori: whakarārakei, nakonako
• Nheengatu: mupuranga, mpuranga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: innrede

  Nynorsk: innreie

• Occitan: decorar (oc)
• Persian: آراستن (fa) (ârâstan)
• Portuguese: decorar (pt)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgeadaich
• Swedish: inreda (sv)
• Telugu: అలంకరించు (te) (alaṅkariñcu)

to honour by providing a medal, ribbon, or other adornment

• Greek: παρασημοφορώ (el) (parasimoforó)

Etymology 2

From Middle English decorat (“decorated, adorned”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Originally also used as the past participle of decorate; compare generate or communicate.

Adjective

decorate (comparative more decorate, superlative most decorate)

1. (obsolete, archaic) decorated, adorned

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “decorate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “decorate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• recoated

Interlingua

Participle

decorate

1. past participle of decorar

Italian

Verb

decorate

1. second-person plural present and imperative of decorare

Latin

Verb

decorāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of decorō

Spanish

Verb

decorate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of decorar combined with te