beautify

verb

beau·​ti·​fy ˈbyü-tə-ˌfī 

beautified; beautifying

transitive verb

: to make beautiful or add beauty to

intransitive verb

: to grow beautiful

beautification

ˌbyü-tə-fə-ˈkā-shən 

noun

beautifier

ˈbyü-tə-ˌfī(-ə)r 

noun

Synonyms

• decorate
• adorn

Choose the Right Synonym for beautify

adorn, decorate, ornament, embellish, beautify, deck, garnish mean to enhance the appearance of something by adding something unessential.

adorn implies an enhancing by something beautiful in itself.

a diamond necklace adorned her neck

decorate suggests relieving plainness or monotony by adding beauty of color or design.

decorate a birthday cake

ornament and embellish imply the adding of something extraneous, ornament stressing the heightening or setting off of the original

a white house ornamented with green shutters

, embellish often stressing the adding of superfluous or adventitious ornament.

embellish a page with floral borders

beautify adds to embellish a suggestion of counterbalancing plainness or ugliness.

will beautify the grounds with flower beds

deck implies the addition of something that contributes to gaiety, splendor, or showiness.

a house all decked out for Christmas

garnish suggests decorating with a small final touch and is used especially in referring to the serving of food.

an entrée garnished with parsley

Examples of beautify in a Sentence

Fresh flowers beautify every room.

volunteers beautified the roadside landscape by planting flowers

Recent Examples on the Web

On Wednesday, the announcement came: a project to beautify downtown. —John Tuohy, IndyStar, 2 July 2025

Often the objective is not to reconstruct or crank back the clock, but simply to beautify by amending the raw materials. —Jolene Edgar, Allure, 10 June 2025

Despite its decreasing population, Olean still appears to be a flourishing industrial town, especially recently, with the help of a TIGER grant from the US Office of Transportation to beautify downtown. —Sally Ventura june 23, Literary Hub, 23 June 2025

Create a backyard oasis with shrubs and vines that screen views while beautifying your outdoor living space. —Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 3 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English bewtyfien, from beaute beauty + -fien -fy

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for beautify

• acidify
• alveoli
• areolae
• demystify
• detoxify
• disqualify
• diversify
• electrify
• exemplify
• fasciculi
• identify
• indemnify

Kids Definition

beautify

verb

beau·​ti·​fy ˈbyüt-ə-ˌfī 

beautified; beautifying

: to make beautiful or more beautiful

beautification

ˌbyüt-ə-fə-ˈkā-shən 

noun