BEAUTIFY (beautified)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: beautified   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does beautify mean? 

• BEAUTIFY (verb)
  The verb BEAUTIFY has 3 senses:

1. make more beautiful

2. be beautiful to look at

3. make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.

  Familiarity information: BEAUTIFY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEAUTIFY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they beautify    ... he / she / it beautifies   
Past simple: beautified   
Past participle: beautified   
-ing form: beautifying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make more beautiful

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

beautify; embellish; fancify; prettify

Hypernyms (to "beautify" is one way to...):

ameliorate; amend; better; improve; meliorate (to make better)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "beautify"):

curry; dress; groom (give a neat appearance to)

groom; neaten (care for one's external appearance)

become; suit (enhance the appearance of)

polish; shine; smooth; smoothen (make (a surface) shine)

slick up; smarten up; spiff up; spruce; spruce up; titivate; tittivate (make neat, smart, or trim)

dress up; window-dress (make something appear superficially attractive)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

uglify (make ugly)

Derivation:

beautification (the act of making something more beautiful)

beauty (the qualities that give pleasure to the senses)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be beautiful to look at

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

adorn; beautify; deck; decorate; embellish; grace

Context example:

Flowers adorned the tables everywhere

Hypernyms (to "beautify" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "beautify"):

ornament (be an ornament to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

beautification (the act of making something more beautiful)

beauty (the qualities that give pleasure to the senses)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

adorn; beautify; decorate; embellish; grace; ornament

Context example:

beautify yourself for the special day

Hypernyms (to "beautify" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Verb group:

ornament (be an ornament to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "beautify"):

prank (dress or decorate showily or gaudily)

panel (decorate with panels)

redecorate (redo the decoration of an apartment or house)

bejewel; jewel (adorn or decorate with precious stones)

filet; fillet (decorate with a lace of geometric designs)

scallop (decorate an edge with scallops)

bedizen (decorate tastelessly)

dress ship (decorate a ship with flags)

dress; garnish; trim (decorate (food), as with parsley or other ornamental foods)

trim (decorate, as with ornaments)

bedeck; bedight; deck (decorate)

festoon (decorate with strings of flowers)

enamel (coat, inlay, or surface with enamel)

inlay (decorate the surface of by inserting wood, stone, and metal)

lacquer (coat with lacquer)

begild; engild; gild (decorate with, or as if with, gold leaf or liquid gold)

illuminate (add embellishments and paintings to (medieval manuscripts))

blazon; emblazon (decorate with heraldic arms)

color; colour; emblazon (decorate with colors)

fringe (adorn with a fringe)

fret (decorate with an interlaced design)

landscape (embellish with plants)

tart up (decorate in a cheap and flashy way)

wreathe (decorate or deck with wreaths)

beset; encrust; incrust (decorate or cover lavishly (as with gems))

braid (decorate with braids or ribbons)

broider; embroider (decorate with needlework)

stick (cover and decorate with objects that pierce the surface)

illustrate (supply with illustrations)

garland (adorn with bands of flowers or leaves)

fledge; flight (decorate with feathers)

bespangle; spangle (decorate with spangles)

foliate (decorate with leaves)

flag (decorate with flags)

bard; barde; caparison; dress up (put a caparison on)

bead (decorate by sewing beads onto)

pipe (trim with piping)

applique (sew on as a decoration)

gild the lily; paint the lily (adorn unnecessarily (something that is already beautiful))

vermiculate (decorate with wavy or winding lines)

smock (embellish by sewing in straight lines crossing each other diagonally)

hang (decorate or furnish with something suspended)

tinsel (adorn with tinsel)

stucco (decorate with stucco work)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They beautify the halls with holly

Derivation:

beautification (the act of making something more beautiful)

beauty (the qualities that give pleasure to the senses)

 Context examples 

Fanny's attractions increased—increased twofold; for the sensibility which beautified her complexion and illumined her countenance was an attraction in itself.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

An article intended to be rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed on or introduced into or otherwise applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness or altering the appearance.

(Cosmetic, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

She felt proud to know that he was an honored Professor in Berlin, though only a poor language-master in America, and his homely, hard-working life was much beautified by the spice of romance which this discovery gave it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then, forgetting to think of it, she was at the other end of the room, beautifying a nosegay; then, she ate her cold meat; and then she was well enough to propose a little walk.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

People who hire all these things done for them never know what they lose, for the homeliest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them, and Meg found so many proofs of this that everything in her small nest, from the kitchen roller to the silver vase on her parlor table, was eloquent of home love and tender forethought.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

That's it! said Jo to herself, when she at length discovered that genuine good will toward one's fellow men could beautify and dignify even a stout German teacher, who shoveled in his dinner, darned his own socks, and was burdened with the name of Bhaer.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)