Basic Guidelines For English Spellings
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[with object]1Make (something) more attractive by the addition of decorative details or features.
‘blue silk embellished with golden embroidery’- ‘Every station is embellished and decorated: delicate stars and hammers and sickles somewhat incongruously scattered about as decorative motifs.’
- ‘Using photos as a starting point, she embellished them with decorative elements like buttons and curled papers.’
- ‘Glass decorated with narrative scenes and with devices appropriated from the classical past were some of the Western decorative motifs used to embellish glass objects.’
- ‘Its proponents freely adapted decorative elements of ecclesiastical buildings and interiors for use in domestic structures and to embellish all kinds of decorative arts objects.’
- ‘These intricately made shoes are embellished with silver and silk.’
- ‘The sky draped as a backdrop for the crimson harvest sun like a painting in a majestic golden frame embellished by great brush strokes from a master's hand.’
- ‘The water bodies are embellished with ornamental fish, cascades, fountains and expensive plants that could be grown in submerged pots.’
- ‘Ornate decorations and artistic gilt work embellish the statues, which are embedded with precious stones.’
- ‘She shows a masterful attention to detail, embellishing a jade damask and sable stole with a quilted Asian-inspired pattern or adding delicate black feathers to the high neckline of a sleeveless black-to-lime chiffon gown.’
- ‘Both sides of the sterling silver functional end have a brushed finish, and the front is embellished with bright-cut engraving.’
- ‘This terrace is about half the size of the drawing room and the current owners have embellished it with an ornamental pond and fountain.’
- ‘Add fresh flowers or small tree ornaments to embellish the wreath for a party.’
- ‘Here she embellished sheets of postage stamps with silk thread; the sewing records the situations in which they were sewn.’
- ‘Some of the Turkish and Italian textiles are embellished with exquisite embroideries executed in metallic threads.’
- ‘Napkins are embellished with simple embroidery: Each has a small Christmas tree stitched near one corner.’
- ‘In other trends, many denims were embellished with embroideries or with woven jacquard borders.’
- ‘She wore a strapless white gown with a large, ballroom skirt and embroidery embellished the bodice.’
- ‘White walls are embellished with black grass wallpaper and surface details are defined in marble, natural stone and tiles.’
- ‘The students were encouraged to embellish the eyes or tail with additional items, but otherwise they were to use only one box to create their cows.’
- ‘Enclosed are ideas for embellishing your fabric and waterproofing it to make a beautiful raincoat.’
decorate, adorn, ornament, dress, dress up, furnishView synonyms- 1.1Make (a statement or story) more interesting by adding extra details that are often untrue.‘followers often embellish stories about their heroes’
- ‘And if people don't get the point, then I will simply repeat my windows story, now embellished by light switches, until they do.’
- ‘Over the centuries, after countless retellings, the story has been slightly embellished.’
- ‘The stress deepened her dependence on alcohol, and her amateurish efforts to market her story led her to embellish the details of her espionage.’
- ‘My hope is that by making this public here, he will perhaps be dissuaded from continuing to embellish this story with false statements.’
- ‘And in any case, there will be plenty of memories gained and stories to embellish after another extravaganza of Celtic solidarity.’
- ‘Nothing so improves a dreary experience like the realization that it will yield a story we can embellish.’
- ‘When people tell stories, as time goes by, the stories and memories get embellished sometimes.’
- ‘In a survey 92 per cent of respondents admitted they had felt a need to embellish a story when in a social setting.’
- ‘There, he tells Chloe and several other slaves his story, boastfully embellishing it and exaggerating his role in her successful escape.’
- ‘Notice, too, that like good storytellers these advocates embellish the tale with some interesting exaggerations.’
- ‘This story stretches the credibility and has surely been hugely embellished in the telling… hasn't it?’
- ‘In Taylor House, where all sides concede that appellants will exaggerate, embellish and tell outright lies, his story is pretty tame.’
- ‘It is no wonder then that such an off-beat and romantic story was immediately taken up and embellished by the media.’
- ‘But such is the Australian love of the underdog, not to mention a good yarn, that tales of this antihero live on and have been embellished by the years.’
- ‘He was a gifted conversationalist and had many fine stories and yarns which he could embellish with style.’
- ‘Francis will often use one little piece of a ‘real’ story as a seed, which he then embellishes and develops into his own made-up story.’
- ‘What follows is a description of each lesson: I have not embellished or exaggerated anything, or imported any apocryphal incidents.’
- ‘It will be most obvious to you when, later, you try to retell it, matching my pace, embellishing the parts you thought were lackluster, trimming the places you thought were fatty.’
- ‘A good journalist knows where to draw the line, to gather the facts of the story they are working on and not to embellish it with irrelevant details.’
- ‘No doubt the details of this anecdote were embellished.’
elaborate, embroider, colour, expand on, exaggerate, dress up, touch up, gild, catastrophizeView synonyms
Origin
Late Middle English from Old French embelliss-, lengthened stem of embellir, based on bel ‘handsome’, from Latin bellus.
Pronunciation
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