Literary notes about adorned (AI summary)
The word "adorned" in literature is often employed to evoke a sense of ornamental beauty and refined detail. Authors use it to highlight lavish decoration in both physical structures and characters, suggesting an enhancement that goes beyond mere appearance. For instance, intricate embellishments might be described in majestic churches and ancient cities ([1], [2], [3]), while clothing or personal features are noted for their graceful, carefully applied finery ([4], [5]). In some contexts, the term also conveys a symbolic quality—as when virtues or poetic imagery are said to "adorn" a character, enriching their moral or aesthetic presence ([6], [7]). In all these instances, "adorned" functions as a vivid, versatile tool to elevate the narrative through visual and metaphorical decoration.
- The churches were rich and magnificent, and curiously adorned both in the inside and out.
— from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African by Equiano - On that celebrated ground the first consuls deserved triumphs, their successors adorned villas, and their posterity have erected convents.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The river Clyde, above Glasgow, is quite pastoral; and the banks of it are every where adorned with fine villas.
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. Smollett - Now she was yet in the prime of youth, tall of person, with a very fair face and very handsomely dressed and adorned.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio - By noon the rooms were decorated, the table beautifully laid; and upstairs was waiting a bride, “adorned for her husband.”
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery - To Pales, or Pomona, thus adorned, Likest she seemed, Pomona when she fled Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her prime, Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - But she had seen enough of him to join in all the admiration of the others, and with an energy which always adorned her praise.
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
