embellish

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/ UK /ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to decorate or add fanciful, often false, details to

He tends to embellish his stories to make them more dramatic.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to decorate or add... decorate adorn ornament beautify garnish embroider

Opposites

simplify plain strip mar

Word family

Derived forms embellishmentembellisherembellished

Related forms beauty belle

Etymology

From Old French embelliss-, stem of embellir ('to make beautiful'), from en- ('in, to make') + bel ('beautiful'), from Latin bellus ('handsome, fine').

embellir Old French bellus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# embellish

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/

## Meanings
1. to decorate or add fanciful, often false, details to

## Examples
- He tends to embellish his stories to make them more dramatic.

## Synonyms
- decorate
- adorn
- ornament
- beautify
- garnish
- embroider

## Antonyms
- simplify
- plain
- strip
- mar

## Derived Forms
- embellishment
- embellisher
- embellished

## Related Forms
- beauty
- belle

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: embellir
- Root: bellus

## Etymology
From Old French embelliss-, stem of embellir ('to make beautiful'), from en- ('in, to make') + bel ('beautiful'), from Latin bellus ('handsome, fine').

## AI Etymology
Embellish comes from Old French embelliss-, stem of embellir ('to make beautiful'), from en- ('in, to make') + bel ('beautiful'), from Latin bellus ('handsome, fine'). Morphologically, the form is compositional: en- marks part of the visible structure, while the remaining element supplies the lexical base. In present use, it is used as a verb meaning "to decorate or add fanciful, often false, details to", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes derivatives such as embellishment, embellisher, and embellished and related forms such as beauty and belle, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Old French embellir and Latin bellus, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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