ornamental
/ˌɔːnəˈmentl/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌɔːrnəˈmentl/ (ame, ipa) · /ˌȯr-nə-ˈmen-tᵊl/ (ame, mw)
ornamental — adjective
- ornamentalpositive
- more ornamentalcomparative
- most ornamentalsuperlative
1. intended to look attractive in a room, garden, or building, instead of having a
intended to look attractive in a room, garden, or building, instead of having a practical job to do.
Andrés filled the courtyard with ornamental lemon trees and tiny stone fountains.
ornamental + noun (plants and garden features)
The brass door handle was purely ornamental and never actually turned.
predicative use after 'be' for emphasis
Meera hung ornamental glass lanterns above the dining table for her cousin's wedding.
The old fortress has ornamental towers that were never built for defence.
Élise prefers ornamental plants like roses to vegetables in her small balcony garden.
- decorative
near-equivalent everyday word; slightly more neutral and far more common in speech.
- showy
stresses the eye-catching effect, often with a hint that it is excessive or attention-seeking.
- fancy
informal; covers anything not plain, with no strict 'no practical use' implication.
- functional
designed mainly to do a job; the direct opposite in product design contexts.
- utilitarian
formal; chosen purely for usefulness with no concern for appearance.
- plain
lacking decoration, though it does not specifically claim a working purpose.
文法句型
ornamental + noun
用法筆記
Almost always sits in front of a noun (ornamental plant, ornamental pond, ornamental ironwork). Predicative use ('the carving is ornamental') is possible but mostly appears when the writer wants to stress that the object has no working function.
常見錯誤
ornamental — noun
1. a plant grown chiefly to be looked at rather than eaten or used for crops; garde
a plant grown chiefly to be looked at rather than eaten or used for crops; gardeners and nurseries use it as a category label.
Ziad's nursery sells vegetables in spring and ornamentals through the summer months.
countable plural 'ornamentals' in horticulture talk
Adaeze grouped the perennial ornamentals along the sunniest edge of the front yard.
Many tropical ornamentals will not survive a Taiwan winter outdoors without cover.
The gardening magazine ran a feature on low-maintenance ornamentals for small city balconies.
- decorative plant
everyday paraphrase used when 'ornamentals' would sound too technical.
- houseplant
narrower — only indoor decorative plants, while ornamentals include outdoor garden ones.
- edible
as a noun, contrasts crops grown for food (vegetables, herbs) with plants grown for looks.
文法句型
ornamentals (plural)
用法筆記
Almost always plural ('ornamentals') and almost always horticultural — you will see it in plant catalogues, gardening columns, and nursery signs, not in everyday conversation. The singular 'an ornamental' is technically possible but rare.