WordWeb Online

1. Excessively elaborate or showily expressed
   "an over-embellished story of the fish that got away";
   - empurpled, purple

1. Make appear better or greater (in power, wealth, quality, etc.) than reality
   "He is free to embellish the image of his mother";
   - embroider, pad, lard, aggrandize, aggrandise [Brit], blow up, dramatize, dramatise [Brit]
    
2. Serve to decorate and look nice
   "Flowers embellished the tables everywhere";
   - deck, adorn, decorate, grace, beautify
    
3. Make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.
   "embellish the room for the party";
   - decorate, adorn, grace, ornament, beautify
    
4. Make more beautiful
   - fancify, beautify, prettify

See also: rhetorical

Type of: alter, ameliorate, amend, amplify, be, better, change, exaggerate, hyperbolise [Brit], hyperbolize, improve, magnify, meliorate, mend, modify, overdraw, overstate

Encyclopedia: Embellish