Word of the Day

: October 15, 2021

embellish

verb im-BELL-ish

What It Means

Embellish means "to make (something) more appealing or attractive with fanciful or decorative details."

// As they grew older, the children realized their grandfather embellished the stories of his travels abroad.

// The gift shop had cowboy shirts and hats embellished with beads and stitching.

See the entry >

embellish in Context

"Well, I've always wanted to write a children's book. This is just partly based on a story I used to tell Krishna, my daughter, when she was going to bed at night, but we just embellished it and embellished it." — Padma Lakshmi, quoted in Bon Appétit, 27 May 2021

Did You Know?

Embellish is related to the French word for "beautiful," bel, and, traditionally, it has been used to imply beautifying an object with the addition of things unessential. That's still true; however, it is equally appealing as an adjective for making statements or stories sound more entertaining.