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adorn. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
adorn, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
adorn in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English adornen, adournen, from Latin adōrnāre, present active infinitive of adōrnō; from ad + ōrnō (“furnish, embellish”). See adore, ornate. Replaced earlier Middle English aournen (“to adorn”) borrowed from Old French aorner, from the same Latin source.
Pronunciation
Verb
adorn (third-person singular simple present adorns, present participle adorning, simple past and past participle adorned)
- To make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate.
- Synonyms: beautify, bedeck, decorate, deck, grace, ornament, prettify; see also Thesaurus:decorate
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.
1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: W Griffin, , →OCLC, page 10:At church, with meek and unaffected grace, / His looks adorned the venerable place; / Truth from his lips prevailed with double ſway, / And fools, who came to ſcoff, remained to pray.
1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 38:Durable, water-resistant and easy to clean, tiles have adorned Persian mosques, Moorish palaces and the parlors of Dutch burgers.
Derived terms
Translations
to make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate
- Arabic: زَيَّنَ (ar) (zayyana), زَخْرَفَ (zaḵrafa)
- Armenian: զարդարել (hy) (zardarel)
- Azerbaijani: bəzəmək (az), zinətləndirmək, gözəlləşdirmək, qəşəngləşdirmək
- Bulgarian: украсявам (bg) (ukrasjavam), окичвам (bg) (okičvam)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 点缀 (zh) (diǎnzhuì), 修饰 (zh) (xiūshì)
- Cornish: takla
- Czech: zdobit (cs)
- Danish: pryde, udsmykke, smykke (da)
- Dutch: sieren (nl)
- Esperanto: ornami
- Finnish: komistaa (fi), koristaa (fi), koristella (fi)
- French: décorer (fr), orner (fr), parer (fr)
- Galician: adornar (gl)
- German: schmücken (de), zieren (de), verzieren (de)
- Greek: διακοσμώ (el) (diakosmó)
- Ancient: κοσμέω (kosméō), δαιδάλλω (daidállō) (Epic)
- Hebrew: עיטר (he) (itér), קישט (kishét)
- Ingrian: koristaa
- Italian: adornare (it), ornare (it), fregiare, abbellire (it), contornare (it), decorare (it), imbellettare
- Japanese: 飾る (ja) (kazaru)
- Korean: 꾸미다 (ko) (kkumida)
- Latin: adōrnō, como
- Maori: rākai, rākei
- Old English: hrēodan, ġefrætwian
- Persian: آراستن (fa), پیراستن (fa)
- Polish: dekorować (pl), ozdabiać (pl), adornować (pl) impf or pf (obsolete)
- Portuguese: enfeitar (pt), adornar (pt)
- Romagnol: adubêr
- Romanian: decora (ro), ornamenta (ro), înfrumuseța (ro), împodobi (ro), orna (ro)
- Russian: украша́ть (ru) impf (ukrašátʹ), укра́сить (ru) pf (ukrásitʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: sgeadaich
- Spanish: adornar (es), ornar (es), engalanar (es)
- Swedish: pryda (sv), smycka (sv)
- Tocharian B: yät-
- Turkmen: bezemek (tk)
- Volapük: dekön (vo)
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Noun
adorn
- (obsolete) adornment
Adjective
adorn
- (obsolete) adorned; ornate
1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:And to realities yield all her shows:
Made so adorn for thy delight the more
Anagrams
- Ardon, Daron, rando, Andro, Ronda, radon, Norad, NORAD, Doran, andro, Drona, andor, norad, Nador, and/or, Nardo, andro-