Ornate

How to spell ornate

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ornate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ornate mean?

1. adjectiveElaborately or heavily decorated, often with intricate detail.

Ornate in a sentence

• The hotel lobby featured an ornate ceiling covered in gold leaf.

• She inherited an ornate silver mirror with a carved frame.

Where does ornate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin ornatus, the past participle of the verb ornare, which meant 'to adorn, fit out, or equip'. In its original Roman use the verb covered everything from decorating a temple to outfitting a soldier, so the underlying idea was making something ready by furnishing it richly. English took the word in during the fifteenth century, settling on the participle form to describe things that were heavily decorated or elaborately embellished. The same ornare root still surfaces in the everyday words 'ornament' and 'adorn', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the plain 'orn' followed by the common '-ate' ending rather than anything more exotic. Because the trap people fear is doubling or vowel choice, it helps to recall that ornate is simply 'orn' plus 'ate', just like its cousin ornament.

How the word is built

• orn- (from Latin ornare: to adorn, equip)
• -ate (adjective suffix)