Literary notes about ORNATE (AI summary)
The word "ornate" in literature often conveys a sense of elaborate decoration and intricacy that can describe everything from clothing and architecture to language and rhetoric. In some passages, it depicts lavish detail in physical objects, such as a richly adorned court dress [1], an intricately designed umbrella [2], or an elaborate frame gracing a family altar [3]. At times, it underscores the magnitude of decorative elements in a building or object—whether referring to an ornate door [4], a boldly embellished building front [5], or even the ornate patterns on a mahogany bookcase [6]. Equally, "ornate" is employed to characterize a style of writing or speaking, suggesting an overly elaborate, sometimes affected, mode of rhetoric as seen in critiques of florid language [7] and elaborate discourses that may border on the affected [8]. This dual usage allows writers to either celebrate a sumptuous richness in detail or gently critique an excess of embellishment, adding both visual and tonal layers to their narratives.
- They were dressed in the ornate court dress of the Western Empire, he saw.
— from Millennium by Everett B. Cole - A servant held an ornate umbrella to protect me from the scorching sunlight.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - His picture, in an ornate frame, always graced our family altar in the various cities to which Father was transferred by his office.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - The hall ended in an ornate door, before which stood no guard.
— from Red Nails by Robert E. (Robert Ervin) Howard - The ornate front of the building on the right of the yard attracted her and she went nearer.
— from The Kingdom of Slender Swords by Hallie Erminie Rives - And that was without question a very large and ornate and costly mahogany bookcase with glass doors.
— from Books and Bookmen by Ian Maclaren - Like all students his oratory in Parliament, when first elected, was more ornate and logical than impressive or forcible.
— from Palace and Hovel; Or, Phases of London Life by Daniel Joseph Kirwan - Euphuism was an affected ornate style of expression, so called from Euphues , by John Lyly, a sixteenth century master of that style.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson