How to use embellish in a sentence

22 example sentences · verb

Embellish means to make more beautiful and attractive by adding ornamentation; to decorate. Example: “He was a notable patron of the arts who lavishly embellished his royal residences and rebuilt and enlarged Westminster Abbey, destined as the burialplace of himself and many of his successors, in honor of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor.”

Examples of embellish by meaning

verbTo make more beautiful and attractive by adding ornamentation; to decorate.

The old book cover was embellished with golden letters
He was a notable patron of the arts who lavishly embellished his royal residences and rebuilt and enlarged Westminster Abbey, destined as the burialplace of himself and many of his successors, in honor of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor.1998, C.H. Knowles, “Henry III (1207-1272; r. 1216-72)”, in Medieval England: An Encyclopedia, Garland Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC...

verbTo enhance by adding something not strictly integral or necessary.

Podolski gave Walcott a chance to further embellish Arsenal's first-half performance when he eluded James Perch and slipped the ball through to the striker.2012 December 29, Paul Doyle, “Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle”, in The Guardian, London

verbTo make something sound or look better or more acceptable than it is in reality; to distort, embroider, or even...

to embellish a story, the truth

More sentences with embellish

True stories are embellished, the casts of fictional dramas stuffed with unlikely non-actors.2023 November 11, Danny Leigh, “Living on the edge”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC…. From the entry grist
Both were mythomanes, inventing and exaggerating to embellish their own careers and pedigrees.2019, Louis Theroux, Gotta Get Theroux This: My Life and Strange Times in Television, London: Macmillan, page 384. From the entry mythomane
Pick up tips and tricks for embellishing your lettering and arranging your words to create maximum impact.2018 June 1, Emma Witte, Brush Lettering from a to Z: A Fun and Comprehensive Guide to Creating Modern Calligraphy with a Brush Pen, Peter…. From the entry fauxligraphy
Adnet asked the artist Maurice Savin to embellish his oak dining table with white ceramic caryatidlike legs.2007 May 18, Wendy Moonan, “Wartime Furniture Draws Unusual Attention”, in New York Times. From the entry caryatidlike
You think they embellish things, stretch the truth, play loose with the facts?2003 November 9, Jim Armstrong, “NFL players skilled at other sports”, in Houston Chronicle, Sports, page 2. From the entry stretch the truth
The jazzplayer takes the melody, knowing it completely, embellishing at will.1994, Jameson, Richard T, They went thataway : redefining film genres : a National Society of Film Critics video guide, Mercury House…. From the entry jazzplayer
Dresses were updated or embellished by the use of accessories.2009, Dorothy Denneen Volo, James M. Volo, “The Look: Fashion and Women’s Clothing”, in Daily Life in Civil War America (Greenwood Press…. From the entry fichu
To accommodate, the cookline is embellished with raw product (whole fish, oysters, prawns) and dried goods (cheeses, breads, rolls) displays.1987, Restaurants & Institutions, volume 97, numbers 1-4, page 141. From the entry cookline
Direction is provided through a legal document known as a specification, which is typically embellished by a company style guide.1976, Thomas G. Sticht, Reading and Readability Research in the Armed Services, page 253. From the entry technical writer
Lots of gorgeous details embellish this cotton kurta from frayed layered collar, fabric loops and buttons to a pleated hemline with laces.2019 November 20, “Ammara Khan brings effortless elegance in RTW collection 'Queen Bee'”, in Something Haute, archived from the original…. From the entry brink pink
Meade sang Bellini’s ornately embellished phrases with velvety legato; climactic high points in the flowing melody soared over the orchestra, elegantly conducted by Joseph Colaneri.2017 December 7, Anthony Tommasini, “Review: Listening at the Met, After James Levine”, in New York Times. From the entry velvety
When a community is always building and enlarging and embellishing, which is good in itself, there is nothing left over for the poor.1963, Dorothy Day, “A Baby is Always Born with a Loaf of Bread under Its Arm”, in Loaves and Fishes, New York, N.Y.; Evanston, Ill.…. From the entry precarity
Moreover, the exquisite art of making textiles "ajoure" created masterpieces of design which at one time graced and embellished thousands of vernerated altars throughout Christendom.1917, American Architect and Architecture - Volume 112, page 235. From the entry ajoure
There are moments at which you can feel the irresistible temptation to embellish and invent, to infuse reality with Chabonesque touches of wistful Jewish magic realism, being resisted.2016 November 18, A[nthony] O[liver] Scott, “Story After Story”, in Sunday Book Review, published 20 November, page 1; published online as…. From the entry Chabonesque
Half-columns of enriched Doric and a stuccoed and channelled blind arcade frame the shopfront, with plain brick upper floors embellished by quoined strips and a deep bracketed parapet.2005, Christine Casey, Dublin: The City Within the Grand and Royal Canals and the Circular Road with the Phoenix Park. From the entry quoined
I also used quite a few of the flat-fingered kind of ruff (as used before on the doumbek in the baladi section) to embellish some notes.2003, Rob Lewis, “3 Camps: Rudimental Drum Solo”, in Crosstraining: A Method for Applying Rhythms and Techniques to Drum Set, Hand…. From the entry ruff
Once-imagined islands, extinct peoples and lost cities from the New World to Chinese Tartary reappear in vividly colored engravings, embellished with trumpeting cherubs and snorting sea monsters.1983 April 10, R.V. Denenberg, “THE PAST SEEN IN A WORLD OF MAPS”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24…. From the entry Chinese Tartary
Bronze vases embellished with the bas-reliefs of such animals as deer, eagle, wolf and griffons show that the Chudes were possessed both of taste and great skill in metal working.2005, Gene Matlock, Christianity--Mankind's First Worldwide Religion!, →ISBN, page 43. From the entry Chude

Meaning of embellish

verb To make more beautiful and attractive by adding ornamentation; to decorate.
verb To enhance by adding something not strictly integral or necessary.
verb To make something sound or look better or more acceptable than it is in reality; to distort, embroider, or even misrepresent or lie.

Full definition of embellish

Questions about embellish in a sentence

How do you use embellish in a sentence?: Embellish is used as a verb. For example: “He was a notable patron of the arts who lavishly embellished his royal residences and rebuilt and enlarged Westminster Abbey, destined as the burialplace of himself and many of his successors, in honor of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor.”
What is a short sentence with embellish?: “to embellish a story, the truth”
What does embellish mean?: Embellish means to make more beautiful and attractive by adding ornamentation; to decorate.

Adapted from Wiktionary: embellish (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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