decorative B2 Topic:Senses & Perception US /ˈdɛk.ə.ɹə.tɪv/ UK /ˈdɛk.ə.ɹə.tɪv/ See IPA manual Freq #21835 Meanings 1 adj Intended to make something look attractive rather than to be useful. The shelf was lined with small decorative ornaments. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · intended to make something... ornamentalcosmetic Etymology AI details From Latin decorātus + -ive. Cognate with French décoratif. decorātus Latin View etymology graph -> Topics Senses & Perception External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # decorative **Type:** Word **Level:** B2 **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈdɛk.ə.ɹə.tɪv/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈdɛk.ə.ɹə.tɪv/ **Frequency rank:** 21835 ## Meanings 1. Intended to make something look attractive rather than to be useful. ## Examples - The shelf was lined with small decorative ornaments. ## Roots and Affixes - Root: decorātus - Affix: -ative - tending to ## Etymology From Latin decorātus + -ive. Cognate with French décoratif. ## AI Etymology Decorative is from Latin decorātus plus -ive. Cognate with French décoratif. The formation is semantically transparent: the parts remain visible, while the compound or affix fixes the grammatical role and narrows the modern meaning. In use as an adjective, decorative denotes intended to make something look attractive rather than to be useful. Typical contexts include “The shelf was lined with small decorative ornaments”. ## Topics - Senses & Perception markdown