decorate

To decorate is to change the appearance of an object or a place, usually for the purpose of making it look beautiful. This word is often used for rooms, homes, and buildings.

• Renee likes to decorate her house for Christmas.
• To decorate her living room, Linda bought a lot of antiques.*
• Women usually take on the task of decorating their homes, but some men enjoy doing it too. (This sentence uses "decorate" as a gerund.)
• Do you like to decorate your home?
• They decorated their tree with lights and ornaments.

This tree was decorated with ornaments and lights.

The word "decoration" is a noun:

• Please don’t use that. It’s just a decoration.
• Jennifer is very good at picking out decorations for her home.

A person who decorates homes and interior spaces for a living is called an interior decorator.

• Brian works as an interior decorator.
• The interior decorator chose to use gold and green for the conference room.
• They hired an interior decorator to help them pick out furniture, curtains, paint, and wall paper for their home.

The word "decorative" is an adjective:

• A large, decorative plate of fruit is in the lobby of the hotel.
• Decorative lights make the streets of the city look bright.
• The shutters on the house don’t open or close. They’re just decorative.

*antique: an old object, usually one that has value.

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November 26, 2013