Word of the Day

: August 19, 2010

embellish

verb im-BELL-ish

What It Means

1 : to make beautiful with ornamentation : decorate

2 : to heighten the attractiveness of by adding decorative or fanciful details : enhance

embellish in Context

Chris knew that his grandfather may have embellished the truth about his years serving on a submarine in the navy, but he enjoyed hearing the stories nonetheless.

Did You Know?

Like its synonyms "adorn," "ornament," and "garnish," "embellish" means to make something beautiful by the addition of a decorative or fanciful feature. Traditionally, the word is used specifically to stress the addition of superfluous or adventitious ornament, as in "the printer embellished the page with a floral border." "Embellish" differs from its synonyms, however, in that it is sometimes used in a euphemistic way (as in our example sentence) to refer to the inclusion of details that are not necessarily true to make a story sound more appealing. The word derives via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb "embelir," from "en-" and "bel" ("beautiful").