Standard Lemma guide

decorative

adj · noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdɛk.ə.ɹə.tɪv/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdɛk.ɹə.tɪv/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈdɛk.ə.ɹə.tɪv/
  • General-American: [ˈdɛk.ə.ɹə.ɾɪv]
  • General-American: /ˈdɛk.ɹə.tɪv/
  • General-American: [ˈdɛk.ɹə.ɾɪv]
  • Australian: /ˈdek.ə.ɹə.tɪv/
  • CMU ARPABET: D EH1 K R AH0 T IH0 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

That serves to decorate

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Decorative embellishments give the home an elegant touch.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

That has no functional purpose.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The phone on the film set doesn't work, it's purely decorative.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: utilitarian

3

noun

Meaning 3

A plant, tile, etc. intended for use as decoration.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

serving an esthetic rather than a useful purpose

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • cosmetic fenders on cars
  • the buildings were utilitarian rather than decorative

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cosmetic, ornamental

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Latin decorātus + -ive. Cognate with French décoratif.

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: декоративен (dekorativen) — that serves to decorate
  • Catalan: decoratiu — that serves to decorate
  • Chinese Mandarin: 裝飾的 /装饰的 (zhuāngshì de) — that serves to decorate
  • Czech: ozdobný — that serves to decorate
  • Czech: zdobný — that serves to decorate
  • Czech: okrasný — that serves to decorate
  • Czech: dekorační — that serves to decorate
  • Czech: dekorativní — that serves to decorate
  • Danish: dekorativ — that serves to decorate
  • Dutch: decoratief — that serves to decorate
  • Esperanto: dekoracia — that serves to decorate
  • Finnish: koristeellinen — that serves to decorate
  • Finnish: koriste- — that serves to decorate
  • French: décoratif — that serves to decorate
  • Friulian: decoratîf — that serves to decorate
  • Galician: decorativo — that serves to decorate
  • German: dekorativ — that serves to decorate
  • Greek: διακοσμητικός (diakosmitikós) — that serves to decorate
  • Hungarian: dekoratív — that serves to decorate
  • Irish: maiseach — that serves to decorate
  • Irish: maisiúil — that serves to decorate
  • Italian: decorativo — that serves to decorate
  • Korean: 장식용 (jangsingnyong) — that serves to decorate
  • Malayalam: അലങ്കാര (alaṅkāra) — that serves to decorate
  • Norwegian Bokmål: dekorativ — that serves to decorate
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: dekorativ — that serves to decorate
  • Occitan: decoratiu — that serves to decorate
  • Persian: تزیینی (tazyini) — that serves to decorate
  • Polish: ozdobny — that serves to decorate
  • Polish: dekoracyjny — that serves to decorate
  • Polish: dekoratywny — that serves to decorate
  • Portuguese: decorativo — that serves to decorate
  • Romanian: decorativ — that serves to decorate
  • Russian: декорати́вный (dekoratívnyj) — that serves to decorate
  • Spanish: decorativo — that serves to decorate
  • Swedish: dekorativ — that serves to decorate
  • Turkish: dekoratif — that serves to decorate
  • Turkish: tezyinî — that serves to decorate
Real reading context

decorative in complete knowledge articles