decorate

From Middle English decorat (“adorned”), from Latin decorātus, perfect passive participle of decorō (“to adorn, distinguish, honor”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from decus (“ornament, grace, dignity, honor”, decor- in compounds), akin to decor (“elegance, grace, beauty, ornament”), from decet (“adorn, befit”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛkəɹeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dec‧or‧ate

decorate (third-person singular simple present decorates, present participle decorating, simple past and past participle decorated)

1. (transitive) To furnish with decorations.

   We decorated the Christmas tree with tinsel and baubles.

2. (ambitransitive) To improve the appearance of an interior of, as a house, room, or office.
   1. (By putting paint or wallpaper on the walls.)

      There's some paint left over from when we decorated the guest bedroom.

      We moved in over a month ago but we still haven't gotten started on decorating.

   2. (By adding adornments to the interior space.)

      People tend to decorate for the holidays or special events.

3. (transitive) To honor by providing a medal, ribbon, or other adornment.

   He was a decorated soldier who served in three wars.

4. (programming, transitive) To extend a method, etc. by attaching some further code item.

   It makes sure that the field name argument is not empty, and that the field specified there is an actual existing field in the class which declares the method decorated with this attribute.

• See also Thesaurus:decorate

• decoration

From Middle English decorat (“decorated, adorned”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Originally also used as the past participle of ; compare generate or communicate.

decorate (comparative more decorate, superlative most decorate)

1. (obsolete, archaic) decorated, adorned

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “decorate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “decorate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• recoated

decorate

1. past participle of decorar

decorate

1. second-person plural present and imperative of decorare

decorāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of decorō

decorate

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