embellishment

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English embellish

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom

Proto-Italic *-mentom

Latin -mentum

Old French -mentbor.

Middle English -ment

English -ment

English embellishment

From embellish + -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈbɛlɪʃmənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

embellishment (countable and uncountable, plural embellishments)

1. An act of embellishing.
2. An added touch; an ornamental addition; a flourish.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:decoration

   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Section 3, Chapter 1:

     Reflection had given calmness to her judgment, and sobered her own opinion of Willoughby's deserts; — she wished, therefore, to declare only the simple truth, and lay open such facts as were really due to his character, without any embellishment of tenderness to lead the fancy astray.

   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 379:

     From this point of view all philosophy is idealism, an imaginative embellishment of scientific knowledge; and, sure enough, Engels prophesies the decline and extinction of philosophy.

Derived terms

• overembellishment

Translations

ornamental addition

• Azerbaijani: bər-bəzək, bəzək (az), bəzək (az), bəzək-düzək
• Catalan: embelliment m
• Czech: dekorace (cs) f, výzdoba (cs) f
• German: Ausschmückung f, Beschönigung (de) f, Fioritur f, Gerank (de) n, Rankenwerk (de) n, Verschönerung (de) f, Verzierung (de) f, Zier (de) f, Zierrat (de) m, Zierrillen f, schmückendes Beiwort n,
• Māori: whakarākeitanga, kīnakinakitanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utbrodering m or f, forskjønnelse m

• Portuguese: embelezamento m
• Russian: украшение (ru) n (ukrašenije), декорация (ru) f (dekoracija)
• Sanskrit: भूषण (sa) n (bhūṣaṇa)
• Spanish: embellecimiento (es) m
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: بزك (bezek), سوس (süs), زینت (ziynet)

Further reading

• “embellishment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “embellishment”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.