adorn
UK/əˈdɔː(ɹ)n//əˈdɔɹn/
adorn verb: to make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate.
Verb
adorn (third-person singular simple present adorns, present participle adorning, simple past and past participle adorned)
- To make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate.
- a man adorned with noble statuary and columns
- a character adorned with every Christian grace
Noun
adorn
- adornment
- Her brest all naked, as nett yvory
Without adorne of gold or silver bright1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- Her brest all naked, as nett yvory
Adjective
adorn
adorn meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
adorn in Hindi
- to adorn
- सँवारना sãvārnā
adorn in Tamil
- to adorn
- அணி aṇi, பண்ணு paṇṇu
adorn in Urdu
- آراستہ کرنا, سجانا, زینت دینا
adorn in Bengali
- অলংকৃত করা, সজ্জিত করা
More languagesFewer languages
- adorn in Telugu
- అలంకరించు alaṅkariñcu, సింగారించు siṅgāriñcu, శృంగారించు śr̥ṅgāriñcu
- adorn in Malayalam
- അലങ്കരിക്കുക, മോടിപിടിപ്പിക്കുക, മനോഹരമാക്കിത്തീർക്കുക
- adorn in Kannada
- ಅಂದಗೊಳಿಸು, ಅಲಂಕರಿಸು, ಸಿಂಗರಿಸು, ಗೌರವ ನೀಡು
- adorn in Punjabi
- ਸੁਆਰਨਾ suāranā
- adorn in Gujarati
- શણગારવું śaṇgārvũ
- adorn in Sanskrit
- सज्ज् sajj, भूष् bhūṣ, संस्कृ saṃskṛ, रच् rac
- adorn in Sinhala
- සදනවා sadanawā
- adorn in Arabic
- زَيَّنَ zayyana, زَخْرَفَ zaḵrafa
- adorn in Persian
- آراستن, پیراستن
Examples of adorn in a sentence
- A gallery of paintings was adorned with the works of some of the great masters.
- as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 61:10:
- At church, with meek and unaffected grace, / His looks adorned the venerable place; / Truth from his lips prevailed with double ſway, / And fools, who came to ſcoff, remained to pray.1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC, page 10:
- Durable, water-resistant and easy to clean, tiles have adorned Persian mosques, Moorish palaces and the parlors of Dutch burgers.1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 38:
Synonyms of adorn
14 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of adorn
| third-person singular present | adorns |
|---|---|
| present participle | adorning |
| past participle | adorned |
| past | adorned |
Origin of adorn
From Middle English adornen, adournen, from Latin adōrnāre; from ad- + ōrnō (“furnish, embellish”). See adore, ornate. Replaced earlier Middle English aournen (“to adorn”) borrowed from Old French aorner, from the same Latin source.
Words formed from adorn
Words that rhyme with adorn
Questions about adorn
- What does adorn mean?
- Adorn means to make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate.
- What is adorn in Hindi?
- Adorn in Hindi is सँवारना (sãvārnā). See Adorn meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use adorn in a sentence?
- A gallery of paintings was adorned with the works of some of the great masters.
- What part of speech is adorn?
- Adorn can be a verb, a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce adorn?
- Adorn is pronounced /əˈdɔɹn/ (US).
- What is the past tense of adorn?
- The past tense of adorn is adorned.
Words near adorn in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: adorn (page history and authors); सँवारना (Hindi) (page history and authors); அணி (Tamil) (page history and authors); adorn (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); adorn (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); అలంకరించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); adorn (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); adorn (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਸੁਆਰਨਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); શણગારવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); भूष् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); සදනවා (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-adorn.ogg.
Cite this entry: “adorn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/adorn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
