embroider
Americanverb (used with object)
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to decorate with ornamental needlework.
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to produce or form in needlework.
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to adorn or embellish rhetorically, especially with ornate language or fictitious details.
He embroidered the account of the shipwreck to hold his listeners' interest.
- Synonyms:
- fancify, color, exaggerate, elaborate
verb (used without object)
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to do embroidery.
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to add embellishments; exaggerate (often followed by on orupon ).
verb
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to do decorative needlework (upon)
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to add fictitious or fanciful detail to (a story)
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to add exaggerated or improbable details to (an account of an event, etc)
Other Word Forms
- embroiderer noun
- overembroider verb (used with object)
- unembroidered adjective
Etymology
Origin of embroider
1350–1400; em- 1 + broider; replacing Middle English embroderen, frequentative of embroden < Middle French embro ( u ) der, equivalent to em- em- 1 + Old French brosder, derivative of brosd < Germanic ( brad )
Explanation
To embroider means to decorate with needlework. Picture your great grandmother's pillowcases or Hester Prynne's famous scarlet letter "A" — both of those objects are probably embroidered. To embroider refers to a type of ornamentation or needlework, but another usage of the word embroider means to embellish the truth. For example, if a fisherman sitting on the dock tells you about the 38-inch striped bass he almost caught this morning, he may have found a way to embroider the truth.
Vocabulary lists containing embroider
Inside Out & Back Again
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"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Season 2 feels like much more of an ensemble affair as showrunner Tony Gilroy expands the show’s focus beyond one character’s moral development to more thoroughly embroider others that are just as worthwhile.
From Salon • Apr. 22, 2025
Grandmothers told stories of their mothers teaching them to embroider.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2023
"I thought I'm going to buy a modern dress" and then embroider it with the fern motif of the privy council "as a nod to the past".
From BBC • May 11, 2023
“No one has to sit there and embroider a skirt or sari for a goddess, but they do it as a display of love,” she said.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 16, 2023
She had not been taught to wear a sari without pinning it in four different places, nor could she embroider slipcovers or crochet shawls with any exceptional talent.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
