These words refer to lavish, detailed or colourful additions to something that make it seem attractive, pleasant or festive. Ornament indicates the addition of detail that makes something more picturesque: the birdbath that ornamented the lawn. The word is more common as a noun, referring in this case to possibly gaudier details: ornaments for our Christmas tree. Decorate is more widely used than ornament , applying especially to places or things: They decorated the bandstand with red, white, and blue bunting. Where ornament can sometimes suggest the addition of one or few details, decorate often suggests a more thoroughgoing approach which affects the whole area in question: a wall decorated in stripes of blue and green enamel. Trim is more informal than the previous pair. In the specific context of Christmas tree decorations , it can refer to everything that is added to the tree: the ornaments , lights, and tinsel used to trim the tree. In other situations, it can often refer to colour or design applied to decorate the edges or accent points of something: a white house trimmed with green.

Embellish indicates the adding of flourishes or accept points, like trim, rather than the treatment of an extensive area, like decorate . The special implication of embellish , is that such flourishes are the expressions of the decorator’s zest or are taken gratefully by others as making a material livelier or more interesting. Also, the flourish may be part of the material itself rather than an extraneous addition to it.

• The painting was embellished with strokes of vibrant colour; a speech embellished with amusing anecdotes.

Sometimes, the word can refer to the elaboration rather than to the decoration of something: the wealth of detail with which the novelist embellished a basically simple plot. Embellish can also suggest partial falsification or outright dishonesty: embellishing his dull life with fictitious adventure; He didn’t lie so much as embellish the truth a little. Both ornament and embellish can also refer to musical flourishes (such as grace notes or trills, also collectively called ornaments , ornamentation or embellishments): Baroque composers often expected the performer to ornament the melodic line as he sang or played. Garnish is similar to embellish in indicating the inclusion of accent points to make something more lively or appealing, and is now most often applied to foods: an omelet garnished with parsley.

Adorn and beautify both often apply to substantial external changes that are made to give something a more pleasing appearance. Adorn can also apply to the adding of accents, but more often it suggests the clothing or dressing up of something in attractive materials: women adorned in jewels and furs. Beautify can sometimes refer specifically to the application of make-up, but it can also apply very generally to any attempt to make something more attractive: mascara to beautify the eyes; a programme to beautify the nation’s highways. Beautify can also indicate decorating something in a garish or heavy-handed way: motels beautified with chrome and neon.

Deck and bedeck can sound old-fashioned in reference to the adding of festive trimming or layers to something, though they survive in songs and poems: Deck the halls with boughs of holly; a garden bedecked with rosemary. Both can be effective as irony: a yokel whose hair was bedecked with hay; a dandy decked out in his nattiest togs.