ornament
verb
- to adorn with ornamentation
noun
- decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object
- musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony), but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɔː(ɹ)nəmənt/ / /ˈɔɹnəmənt/ / /ˈɔɹdəmənt/ / /ˈɔː(ɹ)nəˌmɛnt/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English ornament, from Old French ornement, from Latin ornamentum (“equipment, apparatus, furniture, trappings, adornment, embellishment”), from ornāre (“to equip, adorn”). The verb is derived from the noun.
- An element of decoration; that which embellishes or adorns.
“Dust are our frames; and, gilded dust, our pride / Looks only for a moment whole and sound; / Like that long-buried body of the king / Found lying with his urns and ornaments, / Which at a touch of light, an air of heaven, / Slipt into ashes and was found no more.”
“I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would appear to have been constructed more for ornament than for use.”
- An element of decoration; that which embellishes or adorns.
- A musical flourish that is unnecessary to the overall melodic or harmonic line, but serves to decorate that line.
- The articles used in church services.
- A characteristic that has a decorative function (typically in order to attract a mate)
verb
Etymology: From Middle English ornament, from Old French ornement, from Latin ornamentum (“equipment, apparatus, furniture, trappings, adornment, embellishment”), from ornāre (“to equip, adorn”). The verb is derived from the noun.
- To decorate.
“We will ornament the windows with trim to make the room seem brighter.”
“After this, perhaps, the next most imposing structure in Liverpool is the railway station; it is built of stone, richly ornamented with thirty-six columns of the Corinthian order.”
- To add to.
“The editor ornamented his plain writing, making it fancier but less clear.”
“Not a scene goes by that hasn't been ornamented with a split screen, a freeze frame, a caption, a voice-over, a switch between monochrome and colour, or a change of the aspect radio^([sic – meaning ratio]).”