ornament
/ˈɔɹnəmənt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.32 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A musical flourish that is unnecessary to the overall melodic or harmonic line, but serves to decorate that line.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A characteristic that has a decorative function (typically in order to attract a mate)
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To decorate.
verb
To add to.
Example Sentences
- "Dust are our frames; and, gilded dust, our pride / Looks only for a moment whole and sound; / Like that long-buried body of the king / Found lying with his urns and ornaments, / Which at a touch of light, an air of heaven, / Slipt into ashes and was found no more."
- "I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would appear to have been constructed more for ornament than for use."
- "Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story."
- "We will ornament the windows with trim to make the room seem brighter."
- "After this, perhaps, the next most imposing structure in Liverpool is the railway station; it is built of stone, richly ornamented with thirty-six columns of the Corinthian order."
- "The editor ornamented his plain writing, making it fancier but less clear."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *h₂er-, ornament, ornement, ornamentum
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɔɹnəmənt/
- British English: /ˈɔː(ɹ)nəmənt/