gild the lily
verb
Simple meaning
To embellish or improve something unnecessarily.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
gildthuhlihleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡɪldðəlɪli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Adorn unnecessarily (something that is already beautiful)
idiomatic
To embellish or improve something unnecessarily.
To add superfluous attributes to something.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Adorn unnecessarily (something that is already beautiful)
Used this way, gild the lily is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It suits reflective writing more than quick conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Slightly formal
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Beautiful or graceful
- Usage feel
- Reflective and slightly elevated
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.