adorn

From Middle English aournen (late adornen), from Old French aorner (Middle French adorner), from Latin adōrnāre, present active infinitive of adōrnō; from ad +‎ ōrnō (“furnish, embellish”). See adore, ornate.

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈdɔɹn/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈdɔː(ɹ)n/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)n

adorn (third-person singular simple present adorns, present participle adorning, simple past and past participle adorned)

1. To make more beautiful and attractive; to 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

   • Bible, Isa. lxi. 10

     as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels

   • Goldsmith

     At church, with meek and unaffected grace, / His looks adorned the venerable place.

   • 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.

• beautify
• bedeck
• decorate
• deck
• grace
• ornament
• prettify
• See also Thesaurus:decorate

adorn

1. (obsolete) adornment

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

adorn

1. (obsolete) adorned; ornate

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)

• Ardon, Daron, Doran, Drona, NORAD, Nardo, Ronda, and/or, andro, andro-, norad, radon, rando