Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use decorative in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Decorative means that serves to decorate. Example: “Decorative embellishments give the home an elegant touch.”

Examples of decorative by meaning

adjectiveThat serves to decorate.

  • Decorative embellishments give the home an elegant touch.
  • The parsnip, stilton and chestnut combination may taste good, but it's not terribly decorative.2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian
  • I’ll be honest, seeing stories like that is enough to make me glad that the Queen of England is mostly decorative now.2014, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Dr. Oz and Nutritional Supplements”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 8, John Oliver...

adjectiveThat has no functional purpose.

  • The phone on the film set doesn't work, it's purely decorative.

nounA plant, tile, etc. intended for use as decoration.

  • Analysts said the company’s results were in line, but noted that organic growth at the decoratives business was slightly weaker than expected.2007 October 24, The Associated Press, “Dutch Maker of Chemicals Reports Drop in Earnings”, in New York Times

More sentences with decorative

  • We made some decorative flowers out of the tape we bought.From the entry tape
  • The decorative edging around the door makes it easier to find in the dark.From the entry edging
  • Decorative tilework typically takes the form of mosaic upon the walls, floor, or ceiling of a building.From the entry tilework
  • The decorative material used as waisting also served as a girdle for her midlife expansion.From the entry waisting
  • Among its attractive features were decorative, tile-hung Italianate towers with pyramidal roofs.2023 March 22, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Grand buildings on the list... and lost: Greenock Princes Pier”, in RAIL, number 979, page 52. From the entry pyramidal
  • Cymbidiums, cattleyas and other flowering orchids are presented in decorative pots on round tables.2019 April 10, Adrian Higgins, “This florist started caring for ailing orchids on the side. He’s now babysitting 13,000.”, in The…. From the entry cattleya
  • Could those tiny knives cut someone or were they only decorative?2015, Charlena Miller, chapter 16, in What Lies Between, Portland, Or.: Red Bicycle Press, →ISBN. From the entry sgian dubh
  • They forcefully imprisoned her in a decorative room and brick walled it.2013, Cyril A. Peters, Ignoble Imitation, →ISBN, page 98. From the entry brick wall
  • Could this have anything to do with their penchant for decorative morphology?2013, Jeffrey P. Williams, The Aesthetics of Grammar: Sound and Meaning in the Languages of Mainland Southeast Asia, →ISBN, page 79. From the entry obligatorification
  • Try and stick to only a few decorative elements, not a 'more is more' frightmare.2011, Camilla Morton, A Year in High Heels, →ISBN. From the entry frightmare
  • At New Lebanon, the decorative pommel varied little over the years.2010, M. Stephen Miller, Inspired Innovations: A Celebration of Shaker Ingenuity. From the entry pommel
  • In Mantova’s Chiesa Sant’Andrea the distinction between the decorative and the figurative is more obvious.2008, Metamorphosed Margins: The Case for a Visual Rhetoric of the Renaissance Grottesche Under the Influence of Ovid’s Metamorphoses…. From the entry antiquize
  • The cove ceiling had carved trusses with decorative detailing and pendills.2000, Anthony Mitchell Sammarco, Paul Buchanan, Milton Architecture, page 12. From the entry pendill
  • Figures have been introduced around a central candelabrumlike structure to add decorative interest to this pilaster.1994, Alain Gruber, translated by John Goodman, “Grotesques”, in Alain Gruber, editor, The History of Decorative Arts: Renaissance and…. From the entry candelabrumlike
  • Storage boxes—catchalls for flotsam, jetsam, whatnots and thingamajigs—are gaining new interest as decorative objects for the home.1991 May 30, Emily Gwathmey, “Storage Box: Catchall's New Life as Eye-Catcher”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 14…. From the entry whatnot
  • Compartment and corridor partitions are of blockboard, with appropriate decorative veneers to suit the varied interior decoration.1951 May, “British Railways Standard Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, pages 327-328. From the entry veneer
  • Other sewless buttons are decorative pin-on ones — metal or jeweled.1951, The Ladies' Home Journal, volume 68. From the entry sewless
  • A duocolor scheme, a combination of wine and light tan, is used as a decorative effect.1948, Gas Appliance Merchandising, volume 20, page 33. From the entry duocolor
  • The twillbacking Jacquard structure could be considered as an alternative for the base material for decorative and home textile products..2015, Raluca Brad, Milena Dinu, “Experimental Investigation on Tensile Strength of Jacquard Knitted Fabrics”, in Annals of the University…. From the entry twillbacking
  • The ceiling, or fifth wall, provides another decorative opportunity.2007, Heather J. Paper, Decorating Ideas That Work: Creative Design Solutions for Your Home, →ISBN. From the entry fifth wall
  • For a decorative touch toss a red-and-white-checked napkin into your child's lunch box to create a picniclike atmosphere.2002, Jo Ellen Shield, Mary Catherine Mullen, The American Dietetic Association Guide to Healthy Eating for Kids. From the entry picniclike
  • Southern Plains metalsmiths produced horse gear, pectorals and crosses, earrings, finger rings, other jewelry, and decorative objects with German silver.1999, Daniel C. Swan, Peyote Religious Art: Symbols of Faith and Belief, University Press of Mississippi, page 63. From the entry metalsmith
  • In a number of paintings Hatch imposes totemic animals--lizards, dinosaurs, lions--in unexpected places: as decorative pins, unwieldy ties, chokingly large necklaces.1992 May 15, Effie Mihopoulos, “Silent Messengers”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry chokingly
  • Invention may refer to conceptual theories, ideas in the decorative arts, passages in literature, novel computing programs, and so on.1992, John J[oseph] Gilman, “Preface”, in Inventivity: The Art and Science of Research Management, New York, N.Y.: Van Nostrand Reinhold…. From the entry inventivity
  • STORAGE boxes -- catchalls for flotsam, jetsam, whatnots and thingamajigs -- are gaining new interest as decorative objects for the home.1991 May 30, Emily Gwathmey, “Storage Box: Catchall's New Life as Eye-Catcher”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 14…. From the entry flotsam
  • He might turn in test papers that were utterly blank—or blank except for a large, decorative question-mark—and Mrs.1986, Stephen King, It. From the entry Roman hands and Russian fingers
  • These were decorative ridges that were embossed into the metal.1972, Marvin H. Pakula, Heraldry and Armor of the Middle Ages, page 205. From the entry coudiere
  • There is a group of decorative swash initials, too.1955, Club of Printing Women of New York, Antique, Modern & Swash: A Brief History of Women in Printing, page 18. From the entry swash
  • One class, bracket fungus, may be used for decorative purposes.1921 February, Anthony E. Zipprich, “Drawing on Fungus-a Novel and Pleasing Art”, in Popular Science, volume 98, number 2, Modern…. From the entry bracket fungus
  • The dirt floor, low ceiling and unfinished stone walls were barely illuminated by candles and a dim string of green decorative lights.2022 May 19, James Verini, “Surviving the Siege of Kharkiv”, in The New York Times Magazine. From the entry shepherd
  • Sidewalks in Huntsville were mostly decorative.2020, Yaa Gyasi, Transcendent Kingdom, Viking (2021), page 103. From the entry Huntsville
  • When fish is served à la nage, the vegetables should be chopped carefully so they create a decorative effect in the bowl.2017, James Peterson, Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 295. From the entry à la nage
  • Nothing in the decorative scheme derives from classical architecture — indeed it could be said to be anticlassical, so thoroughly does it bypass traditional design.2009 May 3, Christopher Gray, “Fidel Castro Slept Here”, in New York Times. From the entry anticlassical
  • Belleek was made for both utilitarian and decorative purposes, shaped often in the form of seashells or marine life, such as coral branches.2000, Suzanne Von Drachenfels, The Art of the Table, page 55. From the entry belleek
  • The market, however, needed cheap, easy to produce, decorative containerware and the process had to become more complex in order to produce three-dimensional forms.1996, The Dictionary of Art, volume 12, Grove, →ISBN, page 783, column 1. From the entry containerware

Meaning of decorative

  1. adjective That serves to decorate.
  2. adjective That has no functional purpose.
  3. noun A plant, tile, etc. intended for use as decoration.

Full definition of decorative

Questions about decorative in a sentence

How do you use decorative in a sentence?
Decorative is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “Decorative embellishments give the home an elegant touch.”
What is a short sentence with decorative?
“Sidewalks in Huntsville were mostly decorative.”
What does decorative mean?
Decorative means that serves to decorate.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: decorative (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use decorative in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/decorative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.