bedizen

[ bih-dahy-zuhn, -diz-uhn ]

verb (used with object)

1. to dress or adorn in a showy, gaudy, or tasteless manner:

   She was bedizened in a sequined gown and an enormous feathered headpiece.

   To my dismay, the new PR team bedizened our website with animated images and text.

bedizen

/ bɪˈdaɪzən; -ˈdɪzən /

verb

1. archaic.
   tr to dress or decorate gaudily or tastelessly

Derived Forms

• beˈdizenment, noun

Other Words From

• be·dizen·ment noun
• unbe·dizened adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bedizen¹

First recorded in 1655–65; be- + dizen

Word History and Origins

Origin of bedizen¹

C17: from be- + obsolete dizen to dress up, of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

His wrists are bedizened with bling from Hermès and Cartier, and fawning fans line up for selfies.”

From Seattle Times

You can, however, still purchase a baby-doll T-shirt bedizened with the film’s title in rhinestones.

From New York Times

“That agreeable sensation alternates with a muffled sense that the thing sometimes resembles a vast model made of corrugated cardboard and a suspicion that it borders on a bedizened Trump Tower kind of flash.”

From Los Angeles Times

Similarly, the indigenous flowers she wore in her hair and the native jewelry she used to bedizen herself with were also reflections of her love for Mexico and her nationalist stance.

From Washington Post

Is it too much to speculate that beneath the swirling tattoos, asymmetrically trimmed hair, and bedizened robes, you would recognize someone much closer to yourself, at least in certain respects, than your own ancestors?

From Literature

Related Words

• adorn
• bedeck
• brighten
• deck
• do up
• dress up
• festoon
• fix up
• grace
• illuminate
• paint
• renovate
• spruce up
• trim