ornamentation

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English ornament

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *-Hō

Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō

Proto-Italic *-tiō

Latin -tiō

Latin -ātiōlbor.

Old French -ationbor.

Middle English -acioun

English -ation

English ornamentation

From ornament + -ation.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

ornamentation (countable and uncountable, plural ornamentations)

1. Decoration, adornment or embellishment.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:decoration

   • 2021 March 19, Gary Kamiya, “One of San Francisco’s strangest buildings was a mash-up masterpiece”, in San Francisco Chronicle‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 April 2026:

     But that soaring modernist wall is adorned with elaborate gold-painted cast-iron ornamentation, including an oversized cantilevered Gothic roof cornice, ornate friezes, rounded balconies and Gothic fire escapes […]

2. The act or process of decorating etc.
3. (music) Short notes added to a composition to emphasize certain notes and to add style.

Derived terms

• ornamentational

Related terms

• microornamentation
• ornament (noun)
• ornamental (adjective)

Translations

the act or process of decorating

• Bulgarian: украсяване (bg) n (ukrasjavane)
• Catalan: ornamentació f
• French: ornementation (fr) f
• German: Ausschmückung f
• Irish: eagrú m, gréasú m, maisiú m, oirniú m
• Italian: ornamentazione f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utsmykking m or f, ornamentikk m

  Nynorsk: utsmykking f, ornamentikk m

• Occitan: ornamentacion f
• Portuguese: ornamentação (pt) f
• Romanian: ornamentare (ro) f, ornamentație (ro) f
• Spanish: ornamentación f
• Turkish: süsleme (tr)