Meanings
ornate1
comparative more ornate · superlative most ornate
- Elaborately ornamented, often to excess.
1 more example
The house of Ruthven was a small but ultra-modern limestone affair, between Madison and Fifth ;[…]. As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as “near-aissance.”
1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLCSynonyms: fancy
- Finely finished, as a style of composition.
a graceful and ornate rhetoric
[1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London]: […] [Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC
ornate2
present singular third person ornates · participle present ornating · participle past ornated · past ornated
- obsoleteTo adorn or honour (someone or something).
And truely thoſe that lyue in the feare of god, (conſydering that they ſerue not only their carnal maiſters, but God hymſelfe,) they be in a good caſe: but they may not bee eye ſeruauntes. […] Saincte Paule woulde haue them to lyue ſo, that they maye ornate and ſanctifye the name of God.
1552, Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “The Second Sermon”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562, →OCLC, folio 13, verso
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveElaborately ornamented, often to excess.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivemarked by elaborate rhetoric and elaborated with decorative details
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian натруфен
- натруфен (natrufen)elaborately ornamented, often to excess
Dutch sierlijk, barok
- sierlijkelaborately ornamented, often to excess
- barokelaborately ornamented, often to excess
- bloemrijkflashy, flowery or showy
- overladenflashy, flowery or showy
Esperanto ornamita
- ornamitaelaborately ornamented, often to excess
Finnish koristeellinen, koristeltu
- koristeellinenelaborately ornamented, often to excess
- koristeltuelaborately ornamented, often to excess
- prameaflashy, flowery or showy
German kunstvoll, ornamentreich
- kunstvollelaborately ornamented, often to excess
- ornamentreichelaborately ornamented, often to excess
- reich verziertelaborately ornamented, often to excess
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with ornate
Anagrams
Cite this entry
ornate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ornate
“ornate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ornate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ornate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ornate.
Source: ornate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.