garnish

verb

gar·nish | \ ˈgär-nish

garnished; garnishing; garnishes

Definition of garnish

(Entry 1 of 2)

transitive verb

1a : decorate, embellish

b : to add decorative or savory touches to (food or drink) garnished the fish with parsley leaves

2 : to equip with accessories : furnish

3 : garnishee

garnish

noun

Definition of garnish (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : embellishment, ornament

2 : something (such as lemon wedges or parsley) used to decorate or flavor food or drink

3a : an unauthorized fee formerly extorted from a new inmate of an English jail

b : a similar payment required of a new worker

Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym Did You Know? Example Sentences Learn More about garnish

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Choose the Right Synonym for garnish

Verb

adorn, decorate, ornament, embellish, beautify, deck, garnish mean to enhance the appearance of something by adding something unessential. adorn implies an enhancing by something beautiful in itself. a diamond necklace adorned her neck decorate suggests relieving plainness or monotony by adding beauty of color or design. decorate a birthday cake ornament and embellish imply the adding of something extraneous, ornament stressing the heightening or setting off of the original a white house ornamented with green shutters , embellish often stressing the adding of superfluous or adventitious ornament. embellish a page with floral borders beautify adds to embellish a suggestion of counterbalancing plainness or ugliness. will beautify the grounds with flower beds deck implies the addition of something that contributes to gaiety, splendor, or showiness. a house all decked out for Christmas garnish suggests decorating with a small final touch and is used especially in referring to the serving of food. an entrée garnished with parsley

Did You Know?

Verb

Although we now mostly garnish food, the general application of the "decorate" meaning is older. The link between embellishing an object or space and adding a little parsley to a plate isn't too hard to see, but how does the sense relating to debtors' wages fit in? The answer lies in the word's Anglo-French root, garnir, which means "to warn or to equip." Before wages were garnished, the debtor would be served with a legal summons or warning. The legal sense of "garnish" now focuses on the taking of the wages, but it is rooted in the action of furnishing the warning.

Examples of garnish in a Sentence

Verb

Chocolate curls garnished the cake. a chef who never served any dish without first garnishing it

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Tell tale heart — Jack Daniel’s Apple Jack, grenadine, lemon, smoked cinnamon bitters and garnished with cinnamon, brown sugar and dehydrated apple for $12.66. — Rod Stafford Hagwood, sun-sentinel.com, "Death or Glory goes all gory with Halloween pop-up," 27 Aug. 2019 Serve with crostini that has been smeared with fresh goat cheese, and garnish with herbs. — al, "Serve a meal inspired by Alabama’s 200-year history," 20 Aug. 2019

garnish

Definition of garnish

Synonyms & Antonyms for garnish

Choose the Right Synonym for garnish

Did You Know?

Examples of garnish in a Sentence

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