ornamental

comparative more ornamental · superlative most ornamental

1. Serving as an ornament; having no purpose other than to make more beautiful.

   Some think it most ornamental to wear their bracelets on their wrists; others, about their ankles.

   2 more examples

   We shall leave to the reader to determine with what judgment we have chosen the several occasions for inserting those ornamental parts of our work.

   1749, Henry Fielding, chapter I, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV

   There were ornamental ponds and shrubs clipped into animal shapes, painted concrete gnomes sitting on mushrooms, pink flamingos standing on one leg[.]

   1968, Carl Ruhen, The Key Club, Sydney: Scripts, page 20

   Synonyms: beautifying, embellishing, decorative

2. usuallybiologyBred for aesthetic or decorative purposes.

   Those cranberry bushes are ornamental, so they're not edible.

plural ornamentals

1. An ornamental plant.

   The tumbleweed is a gracious gift from the Russians, having been imported as a favored ornamental from the steppes of central Asia.

   1991 October 10, Jackson Granholm, “In praise of the tumbleweed”, in News Chronicle, Thousand Oaks, Calif., page B-7, column 3