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adorn

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Adorn
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a⋅dorn

  [uh-dawrn]
Use adorn in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to decorate or add beauty to, as by ornaments: garlands of flowers adorning their hair.
2. to make more pleasing, attractive, impressive, etc.; enhance: Piety adorned Abigail's character.
Origin:
1325–75; ME adornen < L adōrnāre, equiv. to ad- ad- + ōrnāre to dress (see ornate ); r. late ME aourne < MF < L

Related forms:
a⋅dorn⋅er, noun
a⋅dorn⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. beautify; deck, bedeck; bedizen, array.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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a·dorn   (ə-dôrn')   
tr.v.   a·dorned, a·dorn·ing, a·dorns

  1. To lend beauty to: "the pale mimosas that adorned the favorite promenade" (Ronald Firbank).

  2. To enhance or decorate with or as if with ornaments: "[He] requires the presence of titles to legitimate and adorn . . . his imperfect status" (Cynthia Ozick).


[Middle English adornen, from Old French adourner, from Latin adōrnāre : ad-, ad- + ōrnāre, to decorate; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]
a·dorn'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

adorn 
c.1374, from O.Fr. aourner, from L. adornare "equip, embellish," from ad- "to" + ornare "prepare, furnish, adorn, fit out," from stem of ordo "order" (see order). The -d- was reinserted by Fr. scribes 14c., in Eng. from late 15c. (see ad-).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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