embellish

embellish

 
verb|im-BELL-ish
 
What It Means
 
To embellish something is to make it more appealing or attractive with fanciful or decorative details.
 
// The gift shop had cowboy shirts and hats embellished with beads and stitching.
 
// As they grew older, the children realized their grandfather had embellished the stories of his travels abroad.
 embellish
verb
em·;bel·;lish im-;be-lish
embellished; embellishing; embellishes
Synonyms of embellish
transitive verb

1
: to make beautiful with ornamentation : decorate
a book embellished with illustrations
2
: to heighten the attractiveness of by adding decorative or fanciful details : enhance
embellished our account of the trip
embellisher noun


Did you know?
Embellish is related to the French word for "beautiful," bel, and, traditionally, it has been used to imply beautifying an object with the addition of things unessential. That's still true; however, it is equally appealing as an adjective for making statements or stories sound more entertaining.

Synonyms
exaggerate
enhance
pad
Choose the Right Synonym for embellish

adorn, decorate, ornament, embellish, beautify, deck, garnish mean to enhance the appearance of something by adding something unessential.

adorn implies an enhancing by something beautiful in itself.

a diamond necklace adorned her neck
decorate suggests relieving plainness or monotony by adding beauty of color or design.

decorate a birthday cake
ornament and embellish imply the adding of something extraneous, ornament stressing the heightening or setting off of the original

a white house ornamented with green shutters
, embellish often stressing the adding of superfluous or adventitious ornament.

embellish a page with floral borders
beautify adds to embellish a suggestion of counterbalancing plainness or ugliness.

will beautify the grounds with flower beds
deck implies the addition of something that contributes to gaiety, splendor, or showiness.

a house all decked out for Christmas
garnish suggests decorating with a small final touch and is used especially in referring to the serving of food.

an entr;e garnished with parsley
Examples of embellish in a Sentence
a book embellished with colorful illustrations
He embellished his speech with a few quotations.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Her complexion, like her pixie cut, was clean, embellished with touches of pink blush and highlighter.
—Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 18 July 2025
Blanco wore a semi-translucent tulle wedding dress embellished with floral accents.
—Ashlyn Robinette, People.com, 17 July 2025
Failure to see the humanity in a source means students might miss when a law is written to exact revenge, when a diary is embellishing an event, or when a preacher’s sermon has a joke in it.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 15 July 2025
Trump wouldn't be the first president to inflate or embellish economic activity on his watch.
—Jarrett Renshaw, USA Today, 8 July 2025

Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Anglo-French embeliss-, stem of embelir, from en- + bel beautiful — more at beauty

First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of embellish was in the 14th century
See more words from the same century