embroider
Americanverb (used with object)
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to decorate with ornamental needlework.
-
to produce or form in needlework.
-
to adorn or embellish rhetorically, especially with ornate language or fictitious details.
He embroidered the account of the shipwreck to hold his listeners' interest.
- Synonyms:
- fancify, color, exaggerate, elaborate
verb (used without object)
-
to do embroidery.
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to add embellishments; exaggerate (often followed by on orupon ).
verb
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to do decorative needlework (upon)
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to add fictitious or fanciful detail to (a story)
-
to add exaggerated or improbable details to (an account of an event, etc)
Other Word Forms
- embroiderer noun
- overembroider verb (used with object)
- unembroidered adjective
Etymology
Origin of embroider
1350–1400; em- 1 + broider; replacing Middle English embroderen, frequentative of embroden < Middle French embro ( u ) der, equivalent to em- em- 1 + Old French brosder, derivative of brosd < Germanic ( brad )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On the bill was an embroidered version of the president’s signature.
From Los Angeles Times
There was Opal, Queen Opal, wearing a golden crown on her head and a gown embroidered with gold thread.
From Literature
The teenager found some aspects of her uniform so uncomfortable that they became painful, like the embroidered logo, seams and tag on her polo shirt, her dad says.
From BBC
Decorated across one of the scarves, which Alavi said she would like to wear, she had embroidered purple butterflies taking flight.
From Barron's
She shows off large animal heads, including a rat and a bull, and an embroidered dress with a ruffled hem made for the production of the Handel opera "Alcina".
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
