I. ˈȯ(r)nəmənt noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English ornament, ornement, from Old French ornement, from Latin ornamentum, from ornare to furnish, embellish + -mentum -ment — more at ornate
1. archaic : a useful accessory (as of clothing, furniture) : adjunct ; especially : an article or object used in a church service
2.
a. : something that lends grace or beauty : a decorative part or addition : a structural component or applied detail that embellishes
the profiles and the carved ornaments of the moldings — D.S.Robertson
b. : a manner, quality, or trait that adorns or beautifies
the various devices of poetical ornament — Encyc. Americana
3. : a person whose virtues or graces add luster to his place, time, or society
the greatest teachers and ornaments of our species — T.L.Peacock
the greatest mathematician of his age and an ornament of the academies of Berlin and St. Petersburg — Paul Koelner
4. : the act of adorning or beautifying : decoration , ornamentation
indulged in excessive ornament
5. : an embellishing note or notes (as a trill, appoggiatura, mordent) not belonging to the essential musical harmony or melody and indicated by the composer or especially in the 16th to 18th centuries introduced by the performer for a decorative effect : grace — called also embellishment, fioritura
II. -ˌment, -_mənt — see -ment II transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to provide with ornament : decorate , embellish
touched nothing that he did not ornament with his learning and injure with his theories — Harvey Graham
Synonyms: see adorn