embellish
Decorate with details
To embellish is to add decorative details or ornamentation: an embellished manuscript, a dress embellished with beads.
More often, embellish means to enhance a story or account with invented or exaggerated details: He couldn't resist embellishing the tale.
The word carries a hint of skepticism—embellished accounts may be entertaining but aren't entirely trustworthy.
Add beauty to
- ornamentThing that beautifies
- bedeckTo ornament elaborately
- festoonOrnamental hanging chain
- trimRemove unwanted edges
gild · deck · emblazon · grace · enhance · accessorize · array · drape
Sew decorative patterns
- elaborateComplex and detailed
- overstateRepresent as greater
- inflateFill with gas
- dramatizeDepict with heightened emotion
hyperbolize · color · stretch · aggrandize · overplay · overdraw · magnify · amplify
Delicate twisted-wire ornamentation
- scrollworkSpiral ornamental design
- flourishTo grow vigorously
- arabesqueFlowing ornamental design
- traceryDecorative branching stonework
fretwork · appliqué · inlay · beading · sequins · trimming · tassel · rosette
Sew decorative patterns
- stitchThread loop in fabric
- needlepointStitchery on open-weave fabric
- cross-stitchDecorative stitching forming X's
- crewelWool yarn for embroidery
appliqué · beadwork · smocking · quilting · monogram · tapestry · lacework · threadwork
Complex and detailed
- intricateElaborately detailed, many parts
- baroqueExcessively ornate or elaborate
- rococoExcessively elaborate in style
- gildedOverlaid with gold leaf
lavish · opulent · florid · fancy · decorative · sumptuous · ostentatious · flamboyant
adorn
Add beauty to
trim · gild · deck · emblazon · grace · enhance · accessorize · array · drape · enrich
embroider
Sew decorative patterns
dramatize · hyperbolize · color · stretch · aggrandize · overplay · overdraw · magnify · amplify · enhance
filigree
Delicate twisted-wire ornamentation
- scrollworkSpiral ornamental design
- flourishTo grow vigorously
- arabesqueFlowing ornamental design
tracery · fretwork · appliqué · inlay · beading · sequins · trimming · tassel · rosette · fringe
embroider
Sew decorative patterns
- stitchThread loop in fabric
- needlepointStitchery on open-weave fabric
- cross-stitchDecorative stitching forming X's
crewel · appliqué · beadwork · smocking · quilting · monogram · tapestry · lacework · threadwork · patchwork
elaborate
Complex and detailed
- intricateElaborately detailed, many parts
- baroqueExcessively ornate or elaborate
- rococoExcessively elaborate in style
gilded · lavish · opulent · florid · fancy · decorative · sumptuous · ostentatious · flamboyant · resplendent
- embellishmentsadorn, trimming, garnishing, bedecking, beautifying
- decoratedecorate, adorn, ornament, bedeck, prettify
- exaggerateoverstate, amplify, magnify, inflate, dramatize
- lay it on thickexaggerate, overstate, ham it up, overact, dramatize
- sugarcoatingsweeten, soften, gloss over, whitewash, soft-pedal
- writing verbsnarrate, describe, recount, chronicle, transcribe
embellishstrip
Narrow elongated piece
denude · divest · bare · strip down · uncover
embellishment, unembellished, embellished, embellishing, embellishments, embellishes, embellisher, overembellish, embellishers