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# decorate

«decorate» in Mova's school dictionary: **To make something look nicer by adding pretty things:…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (decorate, decorates, decorated, decorating)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To make something look nicer by adding pretty things: decorate the cake with icing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#m1)

2) To paint walls or put up wallpaper in a room (mainly UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#m2)

3) To give someone a medal or honour: the soldier was decorated for bravery. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life families decorate trees, cakes, classrooms and houses for festivals and birthdays. In art and D&T lessons pupils decorate their work. In history, soldiers are decorated for bravery. In maths, decorating problems ask how much paint or wallpaper is needed (area). Phrases: decorate with, decorate the tree, painting and decorating.

### examples

- We decorated the classroom for the party. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#x1)
- Decorate your cake with sprinkles. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#x2)
- Dad is decorating my bedroom this weekend. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#x3)
- The firefighter was decorated for saving the children. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#x4)
- We decorated eggs with bright paints. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#x5)
- One tin of paint covers 12 square metres, so a wall of 36 square metres needs 3 tins to decorate. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#x6)
- The palace was elegantly decorated for the occasion. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/#x7)

### note

Regular verb: decorated, decorating. Nouns: decoration, decorator (a person who paints rooms). In maths, decorating questions are often about area (length x width).

### In the corpora

- [The Assyrians built a strong, feared empire with great palaces at Nineveh decorated with stone pictures of lion hunts.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/4-mesopotamia-wheels-laws-and-empires/15/)
- [Jacob loved Joseph most and gave him a richly decorated coat, which made his brothers jealous.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/5-joseph-and-his-brothers/7/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «decorate» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decorate/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.