Nearby Words

ornate

[awr-neyt] Origin

or·nate

[awr-neyt]
adjective
1.
elaborately or sumptuously adorned, often excessively or showily so: They bought an ornate Louis XIV sofa.
2.
embellished with rhetoric; florid or high-flown: an ornate style of writing.

Origin:
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin ornātus well-equipped, adorned, orig. past participle of ornāre to equip; see -ate1

or·nate·ly, adverb
or·nate·ness, noun
un·or·nate, adjective
un·or·nate·ly, adverb
un·or·nate·ness, noun


1. showy, ostentatious; rich, lavish.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Ornate is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
Collins
World English Dictionary
ornate (ɔːˈneɪt)
 
adj
1.  heavily or elaborately decorated
2.  (of style in writing) overembellished; flowery
 
[C15: from Latin ornāre to decorate]
 
or'nately
 
adv
 
or'nateness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

ornate
1420, from L. ornatus "adorned," pp. of ornare "adorn, fit out," from stem of ordo "order" (see order). Earliest ref. is to literary style.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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