ornate

English

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin ōrnātus, perfect passive participle of ōrnō (“to equip, adorn”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Doublet of orné.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɔɹˈneɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

Adjective

ornate (comparative more ornate, superlative most ornate)

1. Elaborately ornamented, often to excess.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     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.”

2. Flashy, flowery or showy.
3. Finely finished, as a style of composition.
   • [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC:

     a graceful and ornate rhetoric

Derived terms

• ornate aphid
• ornate hawk-eagle
• ornate horned toad
• ornate rainbowfish
• ornate shrew
• ornate tinamou

Related terms

• ornament

Translations

elaborately ornamented, often to excess

• Bulgarian: натруфен (bg) (natrufen)
• Dutch: (formally) sierlijk (nl), barok (nl)
• Esperanto: ornamita (eo)
• Finnish: koristeellinen (fi), koristeltu (fi)
• German: kunstvoll (de), ornamentreich, reich verziert
• Macedonian: на́труфен (nátrufen)

flashy, flowery or showy

• Cornish: afînus, taclys, tegennek
• Dutch: (informally) bloemrijk (nl), overladen (nl)
• Finnish: pramea (fi)

Etymology 2

From Latin ōrnātus, perfect passive participle of ōrnō (“to equip, adorn”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French orner.

Verb

ornate (third-person singular simple present ornates, present participle ornating, simple past and past participle ornated)

1. (obsolete) To adorn or honour (someone or something).
   • 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:

     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.

Further reading

• “ornate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “ornate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• antero-, atoner, roneat, rotane, tenora

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

ornate

1. inflection of ornare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

ornate f pl

1. feminine plural of ornato

Anagrams

• Antero, Aterno, Renato, notare, noterà, onrate, orante, renato, tonare, tonerà

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [oːrˈnaː.teː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [orˈnaː.t̪e]

Adverb

ōrnātē (comparative ōrnātius, superlative ōrnātissimē)

1. ornately, elegantly
2. ornamentally

Participle

ōrnāte

1. vocative masculine singular of ōrnātus

References

• “ornate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ornate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ornate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Verb

ornate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of ornar combined with te